Where The Road Leads
by Horselubber
Summary: Story about a girl who wants to be a knight but is held by her past and her future. This story involves Neal's daughter, thought the story is not about her. R&R please
1. Prologue

I own my characters but not anything or any character from Tortall

Lady Lydia of Rose Cliffs was on her way home after a visit to a nearby fief. She had gone there to see their new baby. He had been a cute little thing, with a tuft of red hair. She sighed. She had wanted a baby ever since she was a little girl. Then, when she went to a Healer after years of trying with no results, he had told her that she was barren. It had been a blow to her husband, Anthony of Rose Cliffs. He had wanted children too.

The carriage she was in went over a large bump and then stopped.

"Why have we stopped," she asked to the footman.

"We are stuck in the mud my lady," he replied.

"May I get out to stretch my legs then?" she asked.

"Of course my lady," he answered. He came down from his seat and, after pulling the steps down for her, opened the door. Lady Lydia delicately walked down the steps and stepped over the edge of the mud puddle that the wheels were stuck in.

She looked to her left and saw her guards at the back of the carriage. She noted that their horses, beautiful palomino beasts bred by her husband, were impeccable as usual. The guards themselves were strong men, both of about the same height and build.

She smiled. She liked having money. She had been the daughter of a lesser noble and had therefore not had such nice and expensive things or guards. Her husband had made his fortune by breeding his horses, which were renowned as some of the best in Tortall, and by taking what some nobles would call an unhealthy interest in trade. He had used his money to increase his library and to make her happy.

Suddenly, she heard a sound. It sounded kind of like a hurt animal. She turned towards where the sound had come from and took a few steps towards it. Then, it sounded again. This time, it sounded like a baby. She walked to the edge of the clearing. She was fairly sure it was a baby now.

The crying came from within the forest. She sighed at the probable loss of the nice dress she was wearing and plunged in. She heard her guards calling her from the road, but she ignored them and pushed farther into the trees. She felt her dress snag and tear, but she ignored it. Branches pulled her hair out from its bun. The crying was growing louder. Soon, it got so loud, that she figured she must be right on top of the baby. She followed it to the roots of a tree and looked in.

Under the roots of the tree was a hollow, possibly made by a badger or the like many years ago. It was obvious that it hadn't been used for a while, however, because there was a puddle of water, in which lay a little baby. The babe could not have been more than a few days old.

She reached into the tree and pulled out the squalling youngster. It was female. Lydia tore off the end of her dress and swaddled the child in it. She used a corner of the cloth to clean the infant's face. The child's hair was mostly the white of a girl whose hair would mature to a rich gold, but it had one black spot on the right side of her head. When the baby opened her eyes, Lydia could see that they were silver.

She struggled her way back to the road and found that her footman had worked the carriage free of the puddle. He helped her and her child into the carriage. The entire way back, she stared at the baby's face and murmured to her, "I will protect you and give you everything you desire. I will love you as my own child, and your name shall be Adelaide."

R&R please!!!!!


	2. The Arrival

I Don't own anything from Tortall

A man rode into Corus, trailed by a ten year old child. This was not unusual, seeing as it was the time of year for new pages to begin arriving to be trained. People stopped and stared as they rode past. While the man was riding a nondescript bay gelding, the child was on a flashy palomino mare and ponying an excitable palomino three year old stallion with packs securely tied onto his graceful body. He had appaloosa and splash markings which gave him a white belly and chin and white dots on his rump along with sabino markings that gave him four white socks and a pretty white star, visible when he flipped his shock white forelock off of his face. The mare was a pretty gold color and had the same shock white mane and tail. She had a star and a snip on her face and had white stocking markings on her hind legs and sock markings on her forelegs. They were both perfectly conformed, with strong, graceful, legs and well muscled bodies. They weren't staring just because the horses were pretty however, they were staring at the horses' eyes. The stallion had green eyes and the mare's eyes were jet black. They were not the typical dull colors of horse eyes either, the green could be seen from a great distance and the black was like a dark abyss on either side of the mare's head. They made their way to the palace, the crowd watched until they went through the gate.

R&R please. Sorry it's so short


	3. A Girl Page

I still don't own anything from Tortall

***

Adelaide of Rose Cliffs stood in the courtyard looking around nervously. People were bustling around her. Her manservant had left her just after they had come through the gate, he, along with many of the other servants, had never thought that they had to take orders from her. After all, she was not a noble by blood.

A group of hostlers and men at arms were gathering around her, staring at her horses. Sundancer, the mare, pranced uneasily under her. Eye of the Storm, the young stallion, tried to rear. Adelaide pulled him down. He satisfied himself by arching his neck, raising his tail, and calling a challenge to a passing pack horse. A hostler came up beside her.

"I am Stefan; may I take your horses to the stables? I will make sure that they are well cared for and I will bring your packs to your room."

Adelaide hesitated for a second, and then nodded and dismounted, handing him the reins and the lead rope. On the ground, she was short; not even five feet yet and slight. She was different from the women who had previously gone for their knighthoods in that respect. Kel had been big and strong and Alanna had been stocky. She walked towards the castle, trying to hold her chin up, but not meeting anyone's eyes. As soon as she was out of sight of the people, she relaxed and looked around. A servant walked past.

"Excuse me," Adelaide said. She watched from under her helm as the servant paused, looking disgruntled at being bothered by what appeared to be a young boy. "Where is the training master's office?"

"Straight ahead and to the left," he said in a bored voice, as if he had given these directions many times before. He whisked away before she could thank him.

She walked off in the direction he had indicated, this time keeping her head low, determined not to meet anyone's eyes. She arrived at the door that the servant had indicated and hesitated, too frightened to go in. She clutched the letter her father had given her nervously and reached for the doorknob, then pulled her hand back. She hesitated for another minute, and then knocked on the door. She heard "Come in," from inside. She carefully opened the door and went inside.

Behind a large desk sat Padraig haMinch, the training master. After fifteen years of being training master, his hair was shock white but he still gave the impression of great strength. He was busy going through papers, occasionally writing on some. He looked up as the door shut. Adelaide gave him the letter and then stood back as he read it.

He looked up when he had finished and lay the letter down. Adelaide stared at the desk. "I have heard of you, Adelaide of Rose Cliffs," he said, "You are one of the great beauties of all time. If you wanted to, you could be a great noble lady or a priestess of note. You are spoiled by your parents as their only child, you believe that your looks will get you everywhere in life and that you will never have to work. You are wrong. Here, you will have to work. If you slack off, you drop out. I will take no whining or crying or any other form of complaint. Take your punishments when they come. You will not get any special treatment because you are a girl, or because you are pretty. You will be treated just as any other page. However, I will not tolerate flirtation. If there is a boy in your room, your door will remain open; the same goes if you are in a boy's room. A maid or any other servant does not classify as a chaperone. Before lunch, when the boys use the palace baths, you will return to your room to bathe. Do you understand me?" She nodded at the desk. "Do you have a magical Gift?" She had already planned this; she wanted no one to know about her Gift. She wanted no special attention and a Gift as strong as hers was bound to draw unwanted attention when all she wanted was her shield. She also feared her Gift; she had vowed long ago to never use it again. She shook her head, still staring at the desk. "Do you have a servant?" She shook her head. "A mount?" She nodded. "Good. You will receive three sets of a page's uniform, three sets of practice clothing, a pair of dress shoes, and a pair of sturdy boots from the tailor. Rule number one. You look at me when I am talking to you. Rule number two. You shall answer 'Yes Sir' or 'No Sir' when I address you."

She looked up from under her helmet. "Yes sir."

He was quiet for a moment. "So it is true," he murmured, staring into the silver eyes that were looking at him from across the desk.

***

R&R Please


	4. Getting Started

Lord haMinch brought Adelaide into the hall where her room was and handed her to the maid in charge. "You are to meet me in the hall in one bell's time," he said and then left. The head maid, Lily, gave her a key and led her to her room. Her room had not been trashed as Lady Keladry's had been, but her name had been wiped off the chalkboard and the word SLUT had been written in bold letters on the front. Adelaide sighed; apparently her fellow pages were mean AND unimaginative.

She went inside and saw that Stefan had been as good as his word. Her bags had been set neatly next to a large dresser and desk that had been provided with the room. Adelaide walked across the room and opened the shutters. She saw the missile just in time and jumped back as a rotten tomato soared inches from her nose. She approached the window more cautiously this time and looked out. She had a nice view of a courtyard. She shut the shutters before any more unwanted items that had once been fruits or vegetables flew in. She cleaned up the tomato and then went into the privy. She looked in the mirror.

She took off her helm, releasing the long, sandy blonde hair that it had held. Her bangs fell into her eyes as she reached to her left side and found the lock of her hair that was as black as the black sand that streaks riverbanks where gold can be found. She carefully braided it and tucked it under the rest of her hair, it was best to remain unnoticed. She studied the rest of her face. She had a delicate nose, lips, and cheekbones. Her chin was small and perfectly formed. Her silver eyes were almond shaped and spaced the perfect width apart. They were most definitely not gray eyes as people who heard about them believed. They were shiny and looked like the metal had been poured into her irises but had not yet cooled all the way. They were also reflective sometimes, allowing the recipient of the stare to see themselves. This did not happen all the time though, only when she was very angry. She pushed her hair back to reveal her delicate ears. She sighed, any noble lord would jump at the chance to take her as a wife, but that was not what she wanted. All she wanted was her shield.


	5. Chapter 4

Next chapter, it's a long one. Enjoy!!!! And thanks for all the lovely reviews!!!!!

She stepped out of her room just as the bell rang. She had pulled her hair back in a tight ponytail with the black streak hidden in the middle. Lord haMinch was already there. All the other pages came out of their rooms just after she did and gathered around him. "Rose Cliffs, Nond, Naxon, Tameran, Wellam, Seajen, Queenscove, step forward." They all did, Adelaide slightly nervously. "Who would like to be their page sponsors?" Tyler of Tameran, a small blond boy with light blue eyes that stared at whoever was talking to him to the point of being creepy, was taken by a huge and tough looking boy with dark hair and eyes from Malorie's Peak and Goldenlake named Luka who appeared to be in his second year. Chase of Seajen, a tall red haired boy with bright green eyes and a wash of freckles who had the appearance of having grown a lot in a short space of time, was taken by Thomas of Whitethorn, who had curly black hair, brown eyes, and appeared to be trying to grow a beard. It wasn't going too well. Andrew of Wellam, a slightly overweight boy with mousy brown hair and blue eyes, was sponsored by Joseph of Aili, a short stocky boy who had the unfortunate problem of going bald at such a young age. The final page, Hearenth of Naxon, who had thick, wavy brown hair and dark grey eyes, was sponsored by a stocky boy named Leo of Stone Mountain who had white blond hair and blue eyes. Adelaide eyed Leo cautiously; it had been his uncle who had given Lady Keladry so much trouble as a page.

The group of older pages also included Zachary of Dunlath, a chubby boy with brown hair, blue eyes and dimples; William of Malven, who had a pockmarked face, brown hair, and brown eyes (she eyed this boy cautiously too, his great uncle, Ralon of Malven, was a boy who had given Lady Alanna a lot of trouble as a page before she beat him in a fight and he was forced to flee in shame); Charles of Tirragen, who had a proud face and a slightly snobbish air about hi, only set off by his brown hair and blue eyes; Daniel of Trebond, who had dark hair and eyes (the first from Trebond to try for knighthood since Lady Alanna, though not related to her as the fiefdom had been given to her manservant Coram); the Lioness' grandson Braden of Pirate's Swoop, who had inherited his grandmother's famed purple eyes and fiery hair, along with her short stocky body that Addie could see that he hated; Logan of Disart, a small boy with dreamy hazel eyes and light brown hair; Addison of Josu's Dirk, who had black hair and black eyes; Elijah of Veldine, an albino (she stared at him as well, as she had never seen an albino before, his pink eyes creeped her out slightly); Lionel of Haryse, a shy boy hiding in the back, he was smaller than any of the other boys, more along the size of Addie, with cropped blond hair and blue eyes that gazed wistfully into the distance until someone bumped him, where he was instantly snapped back to the present; Connor of King's Reach, the tallest boy there, with messy brown hair, a thick splash of freckles, and mischievous amber eyes; Jaden of Runnerspring, who was Connor's shadow, backing up everything he said, he was nondescript however with dull brown hair and muddy brown eyes; Dylan of Vikison Lake, who had brown hair and brown eyes naturally, but a giant birthmark covering a third of his head changed the area in his head where it touched blond, giving him a blond eyebrow and a green eye as well; Caden of Brightleigh, with black hair, brown eyes, and sallow skin; Morgan of Amelien, who was tall and skinny with wavy, light brown hair and hazel eyes; Russell of Meag, who was also tall, but was awkward, he appeared to be all elbow and knee, he had dark brown hair and brown eyes; Mark of Irismere, who had one blue eye and one brown eye and auburn hair; and Prince Roald's son, Nicholas of Conte, who had inherited the black hair and blue eyes from the Conte line. Addie knew that Nicholas had a younger brother and two younger sisters. The brother's name was Cole (age 8) and the sisters were Silvia (age 7) and Chelsea (age 5). Addie memorized each face, just in case this was some sort of test.

"I don't need a sponsor, I know my way around." This came from a pert girl of around ten, with high eyebrows, dark hair, green eyes, and a slight widow's peak. This was Joanne of Queenscove, the only other girl to try for her shield since Lady Keladry. "And I can show her around too." She pointed at Adelaide.

"Fine," he said without argument, "Just no tricks Queenscove, and remember, I will brook none of your sass. Sponsors, show your charges around. I expect to see you all at dinner. Enjoy your last day of rest, tomorrow the real fun begins." With that, he turned on his heel and headed down the hallway.

"Well, he has more personality than Father's training master did," said Joanne, shaking her head, "But he is still an old man with a poker up his-" she cut off there as one of the other pages snorted. "What's your name, anyhow?" She directed this question at Adelaide.

"Adelaide," Adelaide said without looking up.

"Adelaide," Joanne mused, "a pretty name, but hard to yell across a battlefield. . . Can I call you Addie? You can call me Jo if you like." Addie nodded, still looking at the floor. She glanced up to see Jo watching her. She immediately looked back down at the floor. There was a very interesting pattern to the tilestones, they were in the shape of seahorses that all interlocked. "Well come on then," Jo said, grabbing Addie's arm and dragging her along, "It's my job to show you around!"

It took almost an hour for Jo to show her around the palace. They saw the practice courts, the mess hall, Balor's Needle, the infirmary, the stables, the barracks for the Queen's Riders, and many other places. In that time, Addie relaxed a bit, not enough to engage in conversation with the chatty Jo, but enough so that she could pay attention to what she was being shown.

"Well, that's the end of the tour," Jo said as they reached the pages' wing again. "If you need anything, I'm right down the hall," Adelaide nodded and started to go into her room. Jo caught her by the arm. "Even if that's just to talk," she said more seriously. Addie nodded, still looking at the tilestones. Then she looked into Jo's eyes. Jo's grip on her arm loosened slightly as she gazed into the unreadable mirrors of silver. Jo was not mesmerized, just surprised. She had never seen eyes of that shade before.

"I will be fine," Addie said. She pulled her arm from Jo's slackened grip and went into her room.

She started to head out to dinner in a shirt, leggings, and a hose. Jo was waiting outside her door in a green kimono. "Did you bring any dresses?" she asked. Addie nodded. "Then go put one on, my aunt Kel says that it is important to not let them forget that you are a girl." Addie quickly went back in and put on a pretty yellow dress that her mother had insisted on packing and that set off her hair nicely. "Much better," Jo said approvingly as she came out.

On their way to dinner, she heard the story of why Jo was getting her shield. First of all, she had wanted to since she was little and had first met her aunt Kel. Her older brother Marcus had not wanted his shield, he had preferred to hide in a library all day and read. He three younger brothers, the twins eight year old Raymond and Robert and the seven year old Josh had no interest in the matter either. Her older sister, Mary, was only interested in boys. Her younger sister, Petunia, was only interested in dolls. That had just left her to go for a shield for her family's honor. No page had crossed her yet; they knew her lineage and had a good idea of what she would do to them if they threw a tomato at her. That did not mean that some wouldn't try though. Jo made no mention of her eyes.

They got their food and sat down together, Jo still chattering away on her right. A large boy appeared and plunked down next to her. Jo grinned. "Addie, meet my second cousin Ryan of Masbolle. He is the son of Lady Keladry." Addie nodded, staring at her food, trying to ignore the smell of fish wafting from Ryan's plate. She hated fish.

"Not much of a talker, is she?" she heard Ryan whisper.

"I'm hoping to annoy that out of her," Jo whispered back. Addie pretended to not hear them. She sipped another spoonful of her vegetable soup.

She finished quickly and with a polite "Excuse me," got up.

"Were those words I heard?" Jo asked in mock surprise.

"I don't know, they might have been, or we just have very overactive imaginations," Ryan retorted. Addie ducked her head and left the table,

On her way back to her room, a dark shape emerged from the shadows, followed by several more. She sped up, trying to get away without them noticing. No such luck. A large hand grabbed her shoulder and pinned her against a wall. An unfamiliar face leered at her from out of the dark. She swore to herself, she hadn't memorized all the faces nearly as well as she thought she had. She knew he had been there though, and searched his blue eyes and roved over his brown hair as he pinned her.

"Hello peasant girl. We will not hurt you tonight unless you provoke us;"

"Yeah, unless you provoke us," one of his crowd said.

The boy glared at the other boy, the one who had spoken, and then looked back at Addie and continued, "We are just here to give you fair warning. Little girls don't belong in combat. Ladies Kel, Alanna, and that girl Jo are different, Lady Kel is big, Lady Alanna is god-touched and Joanne is a noble. You are none of the above. You are just a scrawny excuse for a girl and we will make you wash out within a week." Addie had known that it would be like this, so she had had her father make the weapons trainer train her in hand to hand combat. She grabbed the boy's pinky and pushed back. He yelped and let go.

"Bitch!" another of his crowd yelled and within a second they had all rushed at her. Addie ducked as a boy tried to tackle her but in the process got kicked in the ribs. Another boy lifted her up and prepared to throw her down but she wriggled out of his grip and used his head as a push off point. He stumbled, but didn't go down. He grabbed her in a bear hug and squeezed. Addie felt all the breath whoosh out of her and saw stars. She heard the other boys cheering and felt another boy punch her in the face. As she was losing consciousness, she felt something hit her captor making him grunt and release her. She fell to the ground gasping for breath.

"Hello whore, come to save the slut I see. So you will join her fight," she heard a voice above her sneer and looked up in time to see the boy's attack Jo. She lay on the cool flagstones, half conscious, as she heard the fight rage above her. She heard Jo's cousin, Ryan's, voice and opened her eyes to see her tormentors round the corner at the end of the hall, apparently scared off by Ryan and the large group of friends he had brought. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked over to see that it was glowing green. She jerked away.

"Are you all right?" It was Jo's hand that was on her shoulder. Addie nodded, still breathing shallowly, even though he ribs felt better. "He cracked a few ribs and broke your nose, but they should be all right 'cause I healed them fully before you jumped," Jo said as she helped Addie to her feet. "You should go to bed though."

"Thanks," Addie said softly as she nodded and then headed to her room. She went into her room, shut the door and locked it. She leaned her head against the cool wood, enjoying the soothing feel against her forehead. She stood there for a few minutes while she collected her thoughts. She was not as strong as she had thought that she was, and she was tired. This just meant that she had to train harder.

She moved away from the door and went to her packs. She put her clothes in her dresser and set the locking spell to make sure nothing and no one, person or animal, would be able to get into her clothes and mess with them. She then reached into her packs and brought out her training weapons. First were two practice swords. The first was a sword that was three and a half feet long and four inches wide. It was completely made of lead. She wouldn't practice with this one for a while, seeing as she still couldn't lift it. The other one was much shorter, but was still made of lead. She could barely wield this one with two hands. She brought out the book that the weapons master had given her, which detailed several hundred types of attacks and defenses. She had worked her way through several of them, and had only thoroughly mastered one. For an hour, she struggled through the ones that she had already learned plus one new one. Her arms felt like jelly that had been left in the sun, but she pushed through anyway, thinking about her shield.

Then, she removed a metal pole from her pack along with a short knife. After a moment of looking around, she whittled two slots in the wall to wedge the pole across the doorway above the entrance to the privy. She stood on the chair from her desk to reach the pole and then grabbed it in an underhand grip. She kicked the chair away and then began raising and lowering herself on the bar. She managed three of these before having to let go.

She then put her weapons away and got out a small ball filled with sand. She put this on her desk to squeeze while she was studying. Tired and extremely sore despite the healing, she went to bed.

R&R please


	6. Ah, Breakfast

Another chapter, Enjoy!!!!!!!

Addie got up an hour before the bell rang the next morning. She had always been an early riser. She started the day struggling through push ups, crunches, pull ups, and stretches. She was still sore from her fight and then her regime the night before. The bell rang and she heard a knock on her door. She opened it to find a maid with a basin of water. She took the basin with a soft "thank you" and closed the door as the maid left. She washed up and changed into a shirt and some breeches that she had and went to the tailor's before breakfast. A man there measured her waist, shoulders, and height with a knotted rope and then shoved a bundle of cloth at her. Staggering slightly under the weight of all that cloth, she headed back to her room.

On her way, she tripped over something and sprawled right into a mud puddle, dropping all her new clothes in the mud as well. She mentally swore as she sat up. She heard a snigger and the sound of running footsteps from between two buildings. She looked behind her to see a trip wire that went right across the hallway. She sighed and thanked the gods that she still had time to get fresh clothes before breakfast.

She brought the soiled clothes back to the tailor, who almost burst a blood vessel out of rage. He handed her new clothes and yelled at her not to dirty these ones as well and then went to see what he could do about the dirty clothes. Addie went back to her room at a run.

She had very little time before breakfast, so she quickly put her new clothes away and went to breakfast. She got there and then headed to a table near the edge of the room where no one was sitting. She picked at the porridge; she had never been a big breakfast eater.

Jo plunked down beside her and started shoveling food into her mouth. Addie could tell that she was not a morning person. Ryan came soon after with a bunch of older pages who were his friends including Zachary of Dunlath, by Joseph of Aili, Connor of King's Reach, and a few others. They were all laughing and messing around.

"Eat your porridge," Jo said. "You need your strength if you want to survive long here." Addie shrugged and took a small sip to placate Jo. It tasted like wet sand. She continued stirring it and creating weird seashell patterns with it in her bowl. She took another bite and then got up, made her excuses, and left the mess hall.

She went back into her room and changed into her practice clothing. It fit surprisingly well. She still had half a candlemark until the next bell rang, so she settled onto her bed with a book.

R&R please


	7. The First Day of Training

Lalala read and then R&R

Addie heard a knock on her door. It was Jo. "Are you ready to head out to the practice field?" Jo asked. Addie saw that she too was dressed in her practice clothes. Addie nodded and locked her door as she left. They headed out to the practice fields together, Jo changing her tactics to be constantly asking Addie questions instead of just talking. Addie answered her in the simplest ways possible. They started talking however when Jo brought up the subject of how hard a girl must train to be better than the boys, especially because that was the only way that a girl who was trying for her knighthood could be accepted by her peers.

When they arrived at the field, two people, one man and one woman, stood waiting for them to arrive. Once all the pages had arrived, the man stepped forward. "I am the Shang Falcon, and this is Kylaia, the Shang Ostrich. We will be your teachers in hand to hand combat. New pages come with me. Older pages congregate over there and wait for instruction from Kylaia." Addie looked at Kylaia. She had heard stories of the Shang Ostrich, she had taught herself to fight by watching the animals of the plains where she had grown up. When she was thirteen, she had beaten a boy who had made false claims about her sister's honor in combat. The Shang Falcon had seen her fight and had paid her bride price so that she could accompany him back to the Shang school of hand to hand fighting. She had been old to start, but was a fast study and graduated when she was eighteen. Now at twenty, she was a beauty with her dark skin and black hair. She was also tall for a girl, but had grown into herself as time went on. The Shang Falcon was a tall man with a face bronzed from the sun, but a pale chest that showed he had had his shirt buttoned during that time.

Addie and Jo followed the other new pages over to where the Falcon stood. "We will start with the most important part of any hand to hand fight: the fall. You can not hope to be in a fight of any length without falling several times." Addie nodded to herself, thinking of the fight she had been in the night before. "Who wants to go first?" No one raised their hand. "Fine," he pointed at Jo, "you get to start us off." She went up to him and he threw her over his hip. She slapped the ground as she fell. "Good job," he said as she got up and dusted herself off. "Did everyone see how she fell? Slap the ground as you fall, to lessen the impact on you."

One by one, the other pages took turns falling. When it was Addie's turn, she slapped a bee that was on the ground in her path. The bee stung her, causing her to give an involuntary yelp. "If the fall hurt, you weren't doing it right," The Shang Falcon bellowed. "Let's do it again everyone!" Addie didn't even try to tell him that she had slapped a bee. On her second flight through the air, she decided that she didn't want to slap the ground this time because it would make her already throbbing hand hurt all the more. Instead, she flipped so that she landed on her shoulder and rolled back up into a standing position. The arms master had drilled her in this countless times, just so that she could impress the hand to hand teachers. She had not tried it on such hard ground before however and stood up, trying to hide her wheezing and bruised shoulder as she regained her breath. "Pretty," The Shang Falcon said, "But we are not doing that fall right now. Page Adelaide, you will report to me for a bell on Sunday to practice this fall. Again pages!" They practiced this fall until the bell signaled the end of the lesson.

They then headed to weapons training. Addie was handed a staff and went into a line with all the other pages. Lord Padraig had two older pages demonstrate different hits and blocks. Addie watched their position carefully so that she would have good form. They started doing patterns of hits and blocks. Addie was sure that her position was fine, but her partner was still hitting her fingers with every blow. She looked up to see the boy who had accosted her the night before and gritted her teeth. She would not let him win.

Lord Padraig passed by. He looked at her form and shook his head. He moved her feet farther apart and readjusted her grip. Addie was surprised that on the next pass, it was easier to block the attack. _I must not have been doing it right after all, _she thought grimly and continued on her practice.

They practiced this for a candlemark and then went on to archery. Addie had brought her own longbow, which was about the same height as she was. When it was her turn to shoot, she drew her arm back and hit the center of the target perfectly. "Where did you learn to shoot like that?" the teacher asked.

"We live almost on the Scanran border, about a day away from Fort Northwatch, and are attacked by raiding parties every year. I have been on the wall shooting the men off of their horses since I was seven. We are also attacked by bandits outside of our castle every year, so I had to learn to shoot them when I was out of the walls. And the bow is a weapon that my mother thought that a lady should learn." Addie ducked her head while saying it. The teacher nodded and went on to his next victim, Chase, who started shaking so hard that when he shot he missed the target entirely. He stood there beet red while the master told him, in a very loud voice, exactly what he had done wrong and why it would make him a bad knight. When it was Jo's turn, she hit the target perfectly as well. She winked at Addie as the archery master moved on.

At the end of this lesson, Addie put her bow away quickly and sprinted for the stables. As she entered the cool barn, she heard a loud whinny closely followed by another. She smiled and headed down the aisle to where her horses were stabled. She greeted Sundancer first. "I missed you, despite the fact that it's only been a day," Addie said as she stroked the mare's sand colored forehead.

_I've missed you too, dear one_ the mare responded, nudging the girl slightly.


	8. Riding Lesson

When the rest of the pages arrived, Addie was already tacked up and sitting on her horse. She smiled as she saw Leo do a double take as he saw the mare's abyssal eyes. She almost laughed as she saw the bully, whose name had turned out to be Charles of Tirragen, give Sundancer a wide berth.

Lord Padraig appeared surprised that she was already tacked up. "Is this your mount?" he asked.

"Yes sir," she answered shyly. He walked around the mare, examining every inch of her. She fidgeted, picking up her feet and pawing at the ground. Addie soothed her with a soft word and a hand on her neck.

"She's a beautiful animal, one of your father's, right?"

Addie nodded and said, "Yes, sir."

"I see, your father has talent in breeding and handling horses, but can you handle her?" he asked.

"Yes sir," she answered.

"That's for me to decide," he said.

Addie shifted in her saddle. It was very comfortable. She traced the pattern of seashells on the padded seat. She sat up and gripped the matching reins as Sundancer sidestepped.

It didn't take the rest of the pages very long to tack up either. Jo was the third one out. She had a blue roan mare named Feather who was very energetic. She shifted from foot to foot as they waited for the rest of the pages.

They rode for two candlemarks. Lord Padraig had them walk, trot, canter, and gallop and then had them come to an immediate stop and dismount from all four gaits. They did obstacle courses and opened and shut gates while on horseback. They had their horses wade through creeks deep enough for the pages' feet to get wet. He had them do jumping courses and ride on cross country courses through the woods. Addie, Jo, Elijah, Nicholas, and Leo were the only ones that completed these to satisfaction. He also introduced them to a style called dressage, which Addie had never heard of but quickly excelled at due to her connection with her horse. He later had them ride with their knees smashed against each other and each other's mounts. Sundancer pinned her ears at the horses next to her and swished her pretty white tail, but after a word from Addie decided not to be mare like and take chunks out of them.

"We're all connected at the knees!" Jo said with a laugh. Addie snorted, it was so fitting, seeing as all their knees were smashed against one another.

Sundancer pranced around Lord Padraig after that and flicked her tail at him. Addie saw a grudging look of respect for her horse on his face. Over the course of the lesson, Sundancer had proved herself to be troublesome. Despite cajoling from Addie, she still pulled stuff, causing Padraig to yell at Addie on more than one occasion to control her. Sundancer had nipped at Feather who pinned her ears back at the bossy mare. Sundancer then aimed a kick at Chase's horse, a large, placid, flea-bitten grey gelding named Bone. Bone barely flicked his ears at the kick but Chase went white and dropped his reins, earning a lecture from Lord Padraig. Sundancer dominated every horse there and finally stopped her antics when they all admitted her as boss mare.

After the riding lesson, the pages had half a candlemark before they needed to go to lunch. Addie spent that time wandering the stables looking at all the horses. She greeted each of them with her magic and asked them politely not to tell Daine the Wildmage about her. They agreed in amazement, they had only felt wild magic as powerful as hers in the Wildmage herself.

R&R


	9. Lessons

Addie barely had time to wash before lunch after her visit with the horses. She headed there quickly and saw that most of the tables were almost full by the time she got there. She got her food and then looked around. She saw Jo waving at her from across the room. She picked her way through the tables over to where she, Ryan, Chase, and a bunch of Ryan's older friends were sitting. She slid into a seat next to Jo and started eating. She zoned out thinking of the horses that she had met that afternoon.

Jo nudged her and she immediately snapped out of her reverie. "We were just wondering if you would like to join our study group," she said, her eyes twinkling. Addie shrugged her shoulders and then nodded. She was good at such schoolwork because her father had dreamed of her becoming a scholar. He had not wanted her to go for her shield, but when she had asked him he couldn't say no. Her parents could never deny her anything, which of course was fine for her upbringing because she wanted nothing more than to please them.

They all headed to lessons right after lunch. Their first lesson was math. Addie aced every challenge that he set up for her and, frustrated; he gave her several problems of algebra for homework. One problem was to factor x4-x3-10x2-2x-24. Not hard. The answer was (x-4)(x+3)(x+i√2)(x-i√2), or rather x=4,-3,( √2)i, -(√2)i. She finished all the problems that he had set out for her before class ended.

The group then headed off to reading and writing. Addie had no trouble here because she had been reading since the age of 3 and had read many books. The teacher assigned a poem about the ocean for her to read and then determine what in the poem happened to be a symbol and what each symbol meant. She had just finished reading the poem when the class ended. It had confused her greatly. She tucked it into her bag for later.

They then went to history, taught by the aged man named Sir Myles of Olau. He was old, but still spry enough to walk around. This was by far the most interesting class yet. Sir Myles talked about recent wars a bit and then got sidetracked onto the Code of Chivalry. The older pages groaned and rolled their eyes but Addie found it fascinating. He assigned them a three page essay on the Immortals war. Addie liked the man, he reminded her of her own father, except for the fact that Myles was a good thirty or forty years older.

They then went to deportment. Addie had no problem here either. After all, her mother had wanted her to be a great lady and so had taught her anything that anyone would ever need to know about manners. Addie knew the proper way to address a king as opposed to a duke, the proper depth of a curtsy to a noble of little importance as opposed to a noble of great importance, the proper way to drink tea at a Yamani tea party, the proper amount of time to spend on a walk with a young man of similar rank, and other such things that Addie thought useless but had humored her mother in learning. The teacher assigned them an essay on the proper way to perform a Yamani bow and on the proper way to perform a Tortallan bow. They also had to have perfected these bows by the next day. The one thing that she didn't know that she knew she would be expected to learn was serving. Her mother had not thought that she would do any as a great lady, so this part of her education was neglected.

The pages then had a short class on music. "Who here can play a musical instrument?" The priest asked to the room at large. Addie and Tyler were the only two who raised their hands. "What can you play?" the master directed at Addie.

"The flute, sir, but not very well" she said embarrassedly. Her mother had always tried to make her better at the flute with private tutors and new music, but Addie could never seem to get anything higher than the popular tunes. This was not for lack of trying; she would have loved to play as well as the minstrels and bards that had occasionally passed though.

"And you?" This he directed at Tyler.

"The clarinet, sir," he said. The master then had Addie demonstrate her skills at the flute and had Tyler demonstrate his skills at the clarinet as the other pages worked to learn their new instruments. The priest was happy to find that they both could play, Addie at least reasonably well. Tyler turned out to be a musical genius and Addie tried to match him but failed dismally. Where his music sounded like gently rippling water, hers was more the crash of a big wave on the beach: strong, but coarse and uncontrolled. The priest assigned them each a piece to work on.

Addie was excited for the subject of their next class, magic. She knew that she had to hide her Gift and wild magic as she had since she was very little, but she would still like to know more about it than she had found out from her father's library. She had never wanted to use her Gift after the last time she used it. She had been six and had almost killed someone. No one knew she had done it; they overlooked her as a suspect because they thought that she was too young and shouldn't have had enough power. She had sunk into a deep depression of guilt after that for many months where she learned as much as she could from books as an escape. That was how she found out that girls could become knights. She decided then and there that she would become a knight to make up for the life she had destroyed. She also wanted her knighthood so that she could help people, she came from a fief ravaged by bandit attacks and raiding parties. She had only been able to help fight so much, and whenever the battle got too dangerous, her parents would shepherd her inside. They only let her stay out there to shoot because they knew she would only tear the house apart and freak out about what was happening outside.

When she got to the classroom, she looked around. There were all sorts of things everywhere. Giant seashells were arranged along one side of the room, another was taken up by bookcases, a third had a door to a back room, a fireplace, and a giant chalkboard, and the fourth was covered in detailed posters concerning everything from star charts to maps. From the ceiling hung skeletons of fantastic beasts and immortals; Addie could pick out the skeleton of a two foot long winged horse and a falcon, but there were many more that she didn't recognize. She was drawn to the skeleton at the side of the room that was nearer to the floor than the others. It was of a creature with no legs, a small head with a long thick snout filled with very sharp teeth, a small ribcage, and what appeared to be hands with very long fingers. She touched it. Suddenly, she felt as if cool water was running lightly over her slippery body; she could smell the salty air, hear the crash of the waves. . . She pulled her hand away. She was not entirely sure what had just happened, but it had been strange.

As she was lost in her thoughts about the creature, Master Numair came in. He was a huge man, but he looked kind. His hair was black with streaks of gray in it and it looked oddly ruffled, as if he had run his fingers through it.

"Students, I am Numair Salmalin. I will be your teacher for magic. For the start of class, do you have any questions?" he asked. Merkel raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Are you really married to the Wildmage, sir?" he asked.

"Why yes I am. In fact, I have had two children with her: Sarralyn and Rikash. Sarralyn is ten and Rikash is eight. They work with their mother. Sarralyn shares her mother's wild magic to a slightly lesser degree and has the Gift and Rikash has very little wild magic but has a very strong Gift." His eyes twinkled as he spoke of his children. Addie could tell that he loved them dearly. "Now, all of you in your first year as a page, line up before me. I have to test you for the Gift and wild magic." Addie went cold. She had learned from her father's books to hide her magic from people who could see magic, but she had never tried it against a mage as powerful as Numair. His black aura stretched around him, glinting with little white lights in her Mage Sight.

She got into line behind Jo. She closed her eyes and cleared her mind. She drew the tendrils of wild magic into her core where she hid them within her essence. She then took the visible aura of her gift and the wellspring of silver fire within her and hid that inside the pure white light of her essence as well. She sighed, it was fairly easy to get her magic inside her, but holding it there was always a challenge, it made her feel as if she were trying to hold water in her bare hands.

Jo stepped up to Numair. "Hello Jo," Addie heard him say, "I already know that you only have the Healing Gift, I tested you myself when you were just a child. You can go sit down." Addie gulped. It was her turn next. She stepped up to Numair, looking at the floor out of shyness. "Look into my eyes," he said. Addie half glanced up towards where his face was. "Come on, I won't bite. This will only take a second." Addie looked up into his eyes. She felt herself taken on a wild trip through her mind as he searched for any trace of magic. He frowned and placed his hands on her shoulders. He was going deeper into her mind, deeper than he ha into any of the other pages'. Addie panicked. She tried not to throw up a barrier around her essence that would give her Gift away. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he withdrew. "I don't think I found any magic within you," he said, "but I saw some things that I am not sure of. I will need to consult another mage on this. You have very pretty eyes by the way; I have never seen eyes of such an odd color that weren't accompanied by the Gift." Addie ducked her head and fled back to her seat.

"What was that about?" Jo asked, "He looked at you twice as long as he did anyone else." Addie shrugged. Jo put this to the back of her mind for later.

The pages' final class of the day was on Immortals. This was taught by Tkaa, a basilisk. "Who knows what an Immortal is?" the basilisk asked.

Jo raised her hand, "an Immortal is a creature that dwells in the divine realms that will live forever if not killed."

"Good," he said, "now, do any of you know what type of Immortal I am?"

Addie raised her hand. Jo looked at her in surprise. "A basilisk, sir," Addie said in a small voice.

"Very good," he said. He then spent the rest of the lesson going over the powers of basilisks and then demonstrating his ability to turn things to stone with a whistle on a potted plant. The poor plant turned instantly to granite. He passed it around for them all to see. Their homework was to write two pages on basilisks.

The bell rang and everyone left the class, some complaining about the homework, some delighted with the trick that Tkaa had pulled on the plant. Jo ran up beside her. "You spoke, you actually spoke," she said.

Addie shrugged, "I like to participate in class," she said.

R&R


	10. Bullies

That night, Addie went to Jo's room for the study group. She pushed the already slightly ajar door all the way open and peered in. Jo was lounging in an armchair with a textbook four boys were crowded onto her bed and four more were on the floor. Addie recognized Tyler, Ryan, Zachary, Joseph, Connor, Daniel, Luka, Nicholas, and Braden. Jo looked up. "Come on in," she said. Addie went in and sat in the chair by the desk. Braden and Luka were squabbling over math problems on the bed, Ryan was helping Zachary and Joseph with a poem, and Daniel and Connor were both lounging on different parts of the bed reading heavy tomes on Immortals. Nicholas was sitting by the window reading a book on deportment. He had extra deportment classes because it was so important for him to seem high class and refined. Jo closed her textbook and went over to Addie. "What homework do you still have yet to do?" she asked.

"Just the essay on the Immortals War, the poem, and the essay on basilisks," she answered.

"Okay, here is a tome on the Immortals War that we finished with, just call if you need any help," Jo told her. She returned to her chair and looked back. Addie was writing fervently in tiny writing without even opening the book. Jo shook her head; it took a really smart person to make her feel so ignorant.

Addie was done with the Immortals War essay within half a candlemark. She then tackled the poem which continued to confuse her. The poem took her almost a candlemark and a half to complete, and she was not sure that she had done a good job. Braden and Luka were back on that one problem after having taken a break from it to do their essays on the Immortal's War. Addie looked over their shoulders. It was a function problem; they had to find y when x equaled 5. She took their quills and showed them how to find the answer. They thanked her and went on to the next problem which was of the same type, finding that they no longer had any trouble solving them.

Addie took a long time to complete the poem. It was long and hard, full of symbolism and metaphor. It also didn't help that she couldn't stop thinking about the creature whose skeleton was hanging in Numair's room. What did it eat, where did it live, and, most importantly, what was it? She finished the poem just before lights out.

On the way back to her room, she tripped, fell over something and then landed in a puddle of something sticky and smelly. She heard a snicker from the shadows and the sound of footsteps lightly running away. She sighed and continued and to her room to wash the mess off.

That night, she dreamed about the creature from Numair's room. In life, it had a wide tail, a fin coming out of the top of its back, flippers on either side where its "hand bones" had been, a hole on the top of its head which it breathed through, and grey, rubbery skin. She sat on a rock in the middle of a lake, with the creature swimming around her. Suddenly, it dived deep. She scanned the water, trying to see where the marvelous animal had gone. She looked up as it broke the water ten feet away, pulling its entire body from the liquid, doing a flip, and then diving snout first back in. She laughed with glee as it swam back up to her. It imitated her with a clicking sound.

She woke up. It was midnight. She sighed at the loss of this fantasy and then rolled over and fell asleep.

As the weeks passed Addie fell into a schedule. She would get up, eat, go to her morning classes, go and bathe, go to lunch, go to her afternoon classes, have dinner, go down to the barns and lunge her stallion and work on a bit of training with him (he was coming along nicely), and then go to the study group. Addie enjoyed in her classes, all except for boxing and wrestling. She had a lot trouble in that, probably because she was small. She did her exercises, but it still wasn't enough yet. She was pleased to feel herself getting stronger though. She felt herself gaining lean muscle, unlike some of the boys who gained muscle bulkily. She advanced in combat skills about as quickly as Jo did, they learned a bit faster than two boys of their year did, but at the same speed as Hearenth and not overly quickly. She also proved her skill in academic fields. Her father had taught her thoroughly. She had given up her childhood in the pursuit of learning and slightly regretted the fact that she had never played with others of her own age.

Addie was also collecting punishment work. Each day, at least one of her masters seemed to find something that she hadn't done or that hadn't been done to satisfaction. She was then assigned varying amounts of punishment work by those different teachers. She quickly learned not to complain or argue because it would just get her more work. Her weekends were spent cleaning armor or mucking out the stable (which she didn't mind because it gave her the chance to chat with the horses).

The music teacher was happy with her progress. He gave her and Tyler some duets for them to work on. After a few weeks, he told them delightedly that they were going to play at parties Midwinter came around, just some of the popular songs of course. This was daunting, but they still had several months to go.

She worked hard in math and reading and writing. She was learning more advanced subjects than the second year pages were. They were challenging her and she loved it. She also enjoyed history, which she knew a lot of from her father, but still learned new information all the time. Her masters could not believe that she had read so many classics at her age but her photographic memory allowed her to quote directly from them to prove it.

She was sometimes used as an example in deportment. After the master of that class learned that she knew many things that were important to know in that field, he had her demonstrate proper bows and handshakes and such. She just sighed and complied. She was also learning how to properly serve and was disgusted to find that she failed miserably at it.

Her class on Immortals was interesting. Tkaa was very thorough in his teaching of the habits and facts about Immortals. There were many Immortals and, besides basilisks, Tkaa started from the least powerful and worked his way up. The entire subject intrigued Addie. She raised her hand often in his class to ask a question or to give an answer.

Addie paid attention in her magic classes, but never participated for several reasons. She didn't want to give her secret away or let on how much knowledge she had of magic. She had studied it so hard because she was afraid of it and thought that if she had more knowledge of it she would be less afraid. Stories of the deaths of spell caster or his victims overshadowed the stories of those who helped with their Gifts in Addie's mind. Numair's lessons were full of warning of the traps and dangers that a magic worker could do. He brought in the tree man Qiom and told the story of how Qiom became a man, down to the intricate details of how the magic had worked. He told how the Lioness' brother Thom had brought back the king's cousin, Duke Roger, from the grave and how it had cost him his life. He told of sorcerers who had brought up giant tidal waves, wiping out entire villages at a time. She heard stories of horrendous earthquakes, terrible fires, and tornados of an unnatural origin. She ignored the lessons on Healing and other such good magics, focusing on the bad until that was all she saw. She sometimes caught Numair looking at her, but she always kept her magic hidden during his classes. It was a strain and it told on her strength as the weeks past.

She never touched the skeleton again. It still intrigued her, but she was afraid of the magic that had sucked her into its old life. She looked through the library to find out what it was, but she tried every fish classification book and they had never seen anything like it. Could it have been an extinct species?

Addie kept up in her combat training. She excelled in archery and horse back riding, but was average in everything else except boxing and wrestling where she was far below average. She took her punishment work without complaint.

Every day, Addie would stay later than every one else in the stables to groom Sundancer. One day, Leo dumped his saddle in front of her stall. Hearenth, William, and Caden followed suit, sneering. "Put our stuff away and curry our mounts," Leo said. Addie just stared at them, her silver eyes cold. Leo appeared slightly unnerved. "We expect them to be done," was all he could say before he left. His followers left with him, snickering and joking around. Addie shrugged and continued grooming her mount. She looked over their mounts before she left. She felt so bad for them, as they stood in their stalls still steaming and sweaty, that she curried them despite not wanting to give in. The horses thanked her. She left all the tack where it was piled though.

The next day, they cornered her just outside Sundancer's stall. "We told you to put our tack away," Leo said as he shoved her, "We don't like being disobeyed by commoners! You have been put on this planet to do nobles' bidding, my bidding!" She ignored him and continued going about her business. William blocked her way into the tack room. Caden shoved her stuff to the ground and grabbed her arms. Leo came at her with his fist raised. As soon as he got close enough, Addie kicked him in the groin. She stamped on Caden's foot and delivered a vicious kick to his knee. He swore and released her. Hearenth tackled her and soon the four of them had her tied with some rope that had been lying around.

Addie struggled and Leo slapped her. She fell back into a pile of water bottles, splitting one. She felt the cold wetness seep down her back. She struggled up again but William pushed her back.

William's sneering visage was right in her face, he had really bad breath. "Do you know what's more fun than just beating her up?" he asked. The other boys laughed as he unzipped his pants.

R&R Please


	11. After

Addie lay where they left her in the tack room. Tears were streaming down her face. They had left her tied, but after they had taken turns on her had shoved her under a pile of tack. Her pants and shirt were ripped and she had a great pain in her lower abdomen. They had hit her in the head after they were done with her, leaving her dazed and dizzy. She struggled until the ropes rubbed her wrists and ankles raw. She lay there for what felt like hours, hearing the pounding in her head and felling blood running from her wrists and ankles. Dust tickled her nose. She heard people calling her name, but due to the piece of cloth that they had shoved in her mouth couldn't answer them. She heard someone come into the tack room, but she couldn't move because of the pain. They took something and left, not disturbing the pile where she lay at all.

She had failed. She was nothing but a girl, a skinny, weak, girl. She would never be as strong or as fast as the boys. She lay there for a while, thinking that. Then, she realized what she was thinking, she was giving up. She steeled herself. She could still get her shield, she _must _get her shield. She would get her shield.

As the hours moved on, she got cold. Her back felt like ice where the water had soaked it. The pain grew worse until she was almost screaming through her gag. She had dirt and sand digging into her face. More people had come and gone without discovering her. She wasn't sure she wanted them to in such a shameful position. She heard Lord haMinch order a stable hand to get the pile of tack she was under cleaned up and put away. The stable hand said that he would get someone on it as soon as possible, but he hadn't gotten around to it yet.

It was another hour before she felt someone start to put things away. By this point she was barely conscious. A bright light from a lantern hit her eyes. The stable hand swore as he scrambled to uncover her. He swore even louder as he saw what shape she was in. He ran to get someone else.

Everything after that happened in a haze. Servants brought a stretcher and carried her to the infirmary. She thought she heard the voice of Jo and of Lord haMinch, but wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. She drifted in and out of consciousness as she felt the stretcher bump along.

She felt them deposit her in a bed. Then she felt someone cut the ropes that bound her. She struggled weakly. "Hush now, lass," she heard a voice say, "You've already pulled the knots tight and I don't want to accidentally cut you while I'm getting the ropes off." Suddenly, her hands were free. She immediately curled into the fetal position around her stomach. She lay there sobbing slightly as the person moved to cutting the ropes that tied her ankles. When the person had finished, she stroked Addie's forehead as Addie winced away from her touch and said, "Hush now, the Healer will be here soon."

Addie muttered "no magic, no magic."

The woman, apparently not hearing her, said worriedly, "I'm going to go find the healer," and left Addie with a servant as she left the room.

Mia of Danworth, though not a Healer herself, worked as the secretary of the infirmary. She often comforted patients as they waited for the Healer. She was worried about the small girl who had been raped though. She was bleeding a lot, was breathing rather heavily, and had a fever. She was also muttering something and seemed completely out of it. She found Sir Nealan of Queenscove leaving an exam room and brought him to the room where Addie was laying. He took one look at her and asked, "Who is she?"

"Adelaide of Rose Cliffs, Sir. She's the other girl page," Mia replied.

"Fetch my daughter, she knows her," he said to Mia. To Addie he said, "Can you hear me?" Addie responded by curling into a tighter ball and crying a bit more. He put his hand on her forehead but she flinched away. Mia quietly left the room. He gently reached for her with a green glowing hand.

"No magic, no magic," she cried out. Neal sat back.

"Why not?" he asked. Addie didn't answer, but curled into an even tighter ball. "Does your stomach hurt?" he asked. Addie nodded slightly. He got up and brewed a pot of tea to soothe the pain. He brought it to her. "Drink," he said.

"Wha's it? Is't magical?" she asked worriedly.

"No," he said, "it's just tea. It will make the pain go away." Addie took a sip. The pain in her lower abdomen dulled to a low ache. She drained the cup. The pain became manageable.

She opened her eyes. A man with dark hair brushed back into a widow's peak was watching her. She could immediately see the resemblance to her friend Jo. "You're Jo's father," she said. It was not a question.

"Yes, I sent for her. I know that you two are friends."

"I don't want her to see me like this; I don't want anyone to see me like this!" She broke down into sobs again. There was a knock on the door. Mia and Jo quietly came in. Jo went to Addie's side.

"Who did this to you?" she asked quietly.

"No one," she said, "I fell down."

"Come on," Jo replied, "This isn't a silly fight, this is rape. The rules are different."

Addie hesitated for a second. "No one," she said, and turned over, curling back into the fetal position, tears rolling down her face. Jo put a hand on Addie's shoulder, but she shrugged it off.

Jo sat with her until she fell asleep. Once she was sure that Addie was in a deep slumber, she went outside with her father. "Help her dad," she said simply, "She's in a lot of pain, and not just physically." She headed out of the infirmary and back to her room. Neal sighed; there was more to helping a child in this situation than his daughter thought. He waved dream rose under Addie's nose to keep her asleep.

While Addie was asleep, Neal saw to her wounds. It was obvious that she had not submitted without a fight. She had broken several bones and had numerous scrapes and bruises. She had also broken some of her fingernails off where she had scratched her attackers. She also had a half moon cut in her eyebrow that kind of looked like the top of a jelly fish. He went to Lord haMinch with his findings.

"She is in bad shape, my Lord," he said, "Did you get the bastards that did this?"

"Without her telling us who they were, we have no way of knowing who did it," he said without looking up, "Tell her that when she is ready to leave, I will prepare her with an escort back to Rose Cliffs."

"Don't tell me you're kicking her out," Neal said, his eyes stony, "She didn't ask to be raped. No woman does."

"No," haMinch said putting down his quill, "I just assume that she will not wish to stay."

"And what if she doesn't want to leave?" Neal asked.

"Trust me," haMinch said, "she will want to leave. But on the off chance that she doesn't, she can stay."

"Good," Neal said and stormed out.

Addie woke up very quickly; she had dreamed that she was back in the stable again. She looked around as her breathing returned to normal. She was still in the infirmary, but in a private room. Her wrist and ankles were bandaged and she could smell healing salve on her lesser wounds. Her lower abdomen still hurt, but it wasn't too bad. She swung her legs out of bed and stood up. The world swayed for a second as if she were on the deck of a ship, reminding Addie that she hadn't eaten in a while. It then righted itself as she grasped the bed to keep from falling. She walked over to the window and looked out. The October sun was shining down and she could see the meadow where the pages had their horse back riding lessons. No one was there right then.

"You should be in bed." Addie whirled around and fell over as a dizzy spell washed over her. She looked over and saw Jo's father, the Healer Neal, walking around the bed. He helped her back onto the bed, feeling worried as she tensed beneath his gentle touch. "How are you feeling?" He asked as he tried to peer into her eyes, which was difficult because she was determinedly avoiding his gaze.

"Better," she admitted.

"Have you decided what you are going to do once I let you out of the infirmary?" he asked.

"Sir?"

"Are you going to stay? Are you going to forsake your desire to become a knight and go home?"

"I never even considered leaving," she said truthfully.

"I thought you would say that," he said, "Our Lord haMinch feels differently. He thought that this incident would send you home with your tail between your legs."

"I want my shield," she said, looking straight into his eyes, "it is all I have ever wanted. I am not so weak that, that this will scare me away. It has only strengthened my resolve to protect the weak and the helpless."

"I am glad to hear that, now, let's check your wounds," he said as he began unwinding the bandages on her wrists.

Addie was back in training after a week in the infirmary. She was grateful to Luka, who had lunged her stallion every night that she was in the infirmary. He, because of his size, had been the only one that Eye couldn't easily push around. She worked harder and spoke less than ever before. She attended the study group in the evening, but didn't help the others with their work anymore. Her teachers noticed the difference; she had stopped participating in class. When Jo tried to talk about the incident, Addie brushed her off. It seemed to her closest friends that a key part of her had been lost. She acted like a whole different person sometimes. She was blunt in her speech. She hardly ever laughed anymore. Her shyness had apparently disappeared, but it had been replaced by a desire to be left alone. Like dropped beach glass, she had once been soft and smooth but the incident had shattered her into a million sharp fragments.

She tried to avoid the boys who had raped her, but they were everywhere, leering at her and beating on her when no one was looking. She was constantly covered in bruises, which she told her friends had come from various accidents in training. Had she taken off her shirt, they would have seen that there were way too many bruises to have actually come from training.

Her friends were not stupid though. They knew that someone was beating her up behind their backs, but whoever it was was being sneaky about it. They started finding excuses to walk with her everywhere; Jo walked with her between classes, Tyler walked her to dinner, Luka walked her to lunge her stallion, Ryan walked her to breakfast, and Nicholas walked her from her room to their study group and back. Somehow, the bullies were still beating on her though. They tried their best to be with her all the time, but they were doing all they could and knew that the bully would slip up eventually.

R&R


	12. More lessons

November brought early snowstorms. Knights were coming in off of the road to stay for the winter. The pages were trained indoors. It was also time to introduce first year pages to the sword. The older pages were sent off to practice with each other while the younger ones were sent to the blacksmith's. "You will not master the sword if you do not understand its construct," Lord haMinch had told them, "You must make a sword that is satisfactory in order to be trained to use one."

The blacksmith was a large, cheerful man. He showed the young pages how to make a sword and then handed them the materials and watched to make sure they didn't hurt themselves. As her bar was heating up, she looked around. Jo had already taken her bar out of the fire and was hammering away. She scowled as it became more and more of a misshapen mess. Tyler was staring at his tools as if wondering what he was supposed to be doing, Chase had hammered his thumb and was swearing loudly, and Andrew was staring at his piece of steel as if willing it to heat faster.

Her steel began to glow a cherry red and she took it out of the fire and began to hammer it. As soon as she began to hammer it she became lost in the making. It took shape and then she cooled it and heated it again. She hammered it into almost sedimentary like layers, only, without the fish bones and other fossils encased in it. She did this several more times until she had something that looked like a sword blade and felt balanced. She presented it to Lord haMinch.

He looked it over and tested its weight. "Passable," he said, and them had the blacksmith attach it to a hilt. Addie swung it around. It was lighter than the two practice swords she had in her room; in fact it felt almost weightless in her hand. She tried a few of the exercises from her book. They came easily to her.

Lord haMinch paired her with Nicholas. They went through the exercises that they were supposed to, Addie slightly clumsily as these were not the ones that she had been practicing. As she learned them, they began to come more easily and she was soon performing them as effortlessly as most of the older pages. She progressed as they moved on to different drills, these ones more familiar. Addie moved with more and more confidence as she realized the effects of practicing every night and morning with the two heavy swords.

The lesson ended too quickly for Addie's liking. She was surprised to see that none of the other first year pages had finished making their swords yet. She put her sword away and went to lunch.

It took the other first year pages a week to finish their blades. Jo ranted every evening about how hers would not become flat. Addie continued working with her heavy swords at night working through her exercises and the ones that she was being taught. She excelled and by the end of the first week had mastered all the exercises that Lord haMinch had given her.

The other pages also worked hard and at the beginning of December, Lord haMinch said that they were to have one on one duels. Addie was paired with Tyler and Andrew was paired with Jo. Chase was set to watch.

Addie and Tyler were to go first. Tyler clumsily thrust at her and she blocked it with ease. He tried a chop which she also blocked. He kept on attacking and she kept on blocking.

"Attack Rose Cliffs, you'll never win a battle just defending! Defense should only be used to hold an attacker off, or wear him down," Lord haMinch yelled out to her. Addie sighed. She feinted to the left and then knocked Tyler's sword flying with a move known as the Conch Shell. She put her sword to his throat in the "kill" position.

"Well fought Addie," he said.

"Well Rose Cliffs," Lord haMinch said, "you can hold your own against a first year page. Can you do it against a fourth year page?" he beckoned Connor forward. Addie gulped; Connor was the best swordsman of all the pages.

"I'm game," she said nervously.

They moved their swords into the guard position. They circled each other, looking for an opening. He struck without warning from the muscles in his chest. Addie parried and struck back in the momentary opening, moving through the patterns that she had spent so much time practicing. Connor blocked her. Addie feinted and then struck. Connor blocked and retaliated. They continued in this fashion for a while, each searching for an opening. Sweat began to drip into Addie's eyes but she dared not wipe it away. Connor lunged and Addie dodged. Connor's momentum carried him past her and she attacked in the momentary opening. Connor blocked and retaliated quickly. Addie's sword went flying. Connor put the tip of his blade to her throat, panting as Lord Padraig nodded.

"I'll make swordsmen out of both of you," he said.

Lord haMinch immediately put Addie in private lessons. Any doubt in his mind that she was worthy vanished as he considered her swordsmanship. December passed quickly and before anyone could believe it, it was Midwinter.

The pages were assigned tables and practiced serving in the week before the festivities. Addie still failed horribly, but all the pages were required to serve so she would not be let off the hook.

The first night, Addie looked in the mirror nervously. She had her hair in a tight horsetail at the back of her head. She made sure not a hair was out of place and that her tunic was straight. Every time she moved she had to rush back to the mirror to make sure she hadn't mussed her hair or wrinkled her tunic. She headed to the dining hall with Jo and Ryan to receive her assignment.

Addie was assigned to a group of high priestesses from the Great Mother Goddess' temple. She brought the fingerbowl around quietly and then hurried back to the kitchen.

Addie wished that her parents had come; they had sent a long letter of apology saying that Anthony's prize Cremello mare Buttermilk was going to give birth soon. Addie knew that they had had to stay. When a mare gave birth to a foal at this time of year, there was a danger that both the mare and the foal would die from the cold. Anthony had not meant to breed her in January, but his new stablehand had lost control of his stallion, a handsome chestnut named Raindancer (incidentally, this was Sundancer's father), who had promptly jumped the fence into the mare pasture and bred with Buttermilk before he could be recaptured.

Addie then scanned for Lady Keladry and found her at a table with the two Shang, Neal and his wife Yuki, and her husband, Dom. She looked to see who was serving them. It was Jo. Addie would have to get the gossip from her later.

She looked around and found that Alanna the Lioness was not in attendance. She sighed in disappointment and brought the lobster soup to the priestesses. On serving the soup, Addie splashed a bit on accident. The priestesses assured her that they didn't take offense, but Addie went back to the kitchens red with shame. She tried her best not to spill or drop anything else, but Leo tripped her and made her dropped an entire platter on her way out of the kitchen. She cleaned up the mess hurriedly, unshed tears burning her eyes. She managed to finish up the night with no more major mishaps, but still was embarrassed about her failure.

She quickly went back to her room and got her flute. She was playing at a Midwinter party. She met Tyler there and they went in. They played, no one really listened to them, and they left near the end of the party.

The second night of Midwinter passed without remark, apart from a few bruises gained by running headlong into Hearenth, but the third night was much worse than the previous two. When she entered the kitchen, she found that she had been reassigned because a new group of nobles had arrived that day from the coast. She paid no attention as to who they were when the master of etiquette, Master Oakbridge, told her. He then gave her a lecture on proper serving, which she only half listened to. When Leo, Caden, Hearenth, and William came in, she mentally steeled herself for their abuse.

As she was heading out with the fingerbowl, an elbow came out of nowhere and nailed her in the eye. She gasped and dropped the fingerbowl. It hit the ground and split in half. Gritting her teeth, she brought it back into the kitchen and grabbed another. She headed to the table she was serving, keeping her head down so that they wouldn't see the black eye that was blooming on her face.

When she came out with the soup, she was determined not to spill it this time. She succeeded, but as she was leaving the table to get the next course, one of the ladies sitting at the table put a hand on Addie's elbow. Addie looked up into purple eyes and was glad that she was not carrying anything at the moment, because she would have dropped it. As it was, she was struck dumb and immediately broke eye contact and looked back at her shoes, while giving a slight bow. She noticed that the Lioness' once famous flaming red hair was now streaked liberally with gray.

"What has happened to your eye?" The Lioness asked, "When you entered the dining hall this evening, you didn't have a bruise."

"I fell down Madam Lioness," Addie said.

"That old line," the Lioness chuckled, "Well come see me in my rooms after dinner. Numair and I have something to discuss with you, and I can heal your eye." Addie could only nod. She fled back to the kitchen.

As she stood in the kitchen, all sorts of thoughts were flying through her head: How had the Lioness and her husband gotten here through the snow? What did she and Numair want with Addie?

She was so preoccupied that when she got the appetizer course that came between the soup and the meat she forgot to look out for the hand that shoved her through the kitchen doors, causing her to stumble into the dining hall and almost spill the entire plate of shrimp rolls onto some visiting dignitaries. As it was, she spilled most of the food onto the floor. Rubbing her now throbbing shoulder, she got a new plate of appetizers and took it out to the table.

The rest of the meal passed quickly. On the meat course, Hearenth tripped her and she fell, twisting her ankle. She limped through the rest of the meal and dessert. She kept her head down as she was poked and bumped and managed not to spill anything else. Her friends were so concentrated on serving to their tables that they didn't notice Addie getting slowly beaten up.

After the meal, Addie went back to her room and changed out of her fancy palace uniform and into the light pink tunic and gray pants of her fiefdom. She then wrapped her ankle tightly in a bandage so that she could at least fit it into her boot. It had swollen to twice its usual size.

She hobbled to the wing of the palace where the higher class of nobles had rooms. She looked at the floor and noticed that it had the same seahorse pattern in the flagstones as the page's wing; this gave her a bit more confidence. She stopped outside the Lionesses door and hesitated for a second, caught between knowing that she had to do what she was told and the desire to run and hide from the formidable lady knight. She steeled herself, pulled her magic into her essence, and knocked. The door opened immediately and Alanna greeted her with a slight smile and a nod of the head. Addie walked past her, trying not to limp.

"Sit down," Alanna motioned to an armchair by the fire, "Numair will be here shortly." Addie sat on the edge of the chair with both feet flat on the ground, ready to flee if necessary.

"Relax youngling," Alanna said, "I won't bite, at least not hard." Addie gave a slight smile at this attempt at humor. "So, when did serving become a contact sport?"

"Ma'am?"

"I saw how those boys were bumping you, was that hazing, or was it personal?"

"It was nothing," Addie said, turning bright red.

"Hmmm, nothing eh? Then, there are no bruises on you and your ankle is uninjured. I assume that it was those boys that raped you?"

Addie went white. "W-what?" she stammered.

"I was Neal's knightmistress," she said, leaning back in her chair, "he still tells me all the gossip in the palace."

Addie shifted uncomfortably.

"I can heal your eye you know, and your ankle," Alanna said, changing the subject.

"No, I don't like magic," Addie said, not meeting Alanna's eyes.

"Are you sure?" Alanna asked, watching the girl carefully for her reaction.

"I'm sure," Addie said, looking up and straight into Alanna's eyes, "I don't like magic."

"Why?" Alanna asked.

Addie looked back into her lap and twisted the hem of her tunic. "It can be too easily turned to evil, even when you don't want it to. It harms people and rarely helps them. There are magical pitfalls and traps everywhere, most of which are deadly. Also, an inexperienced sorcerer can lose control if he tries a spell that is too complicated for him."

"Youngling, you don't understand the essence of magic. It is neither good nor evil, it only is. It helps just as many, if not more, people than it hurts. It is all in how it is used." The look on Addie's face told Alanna that she didn't believe her. "I used to be afraid of magic too, you know," she started to say.

"I'm not afraid of magic, I just don't like it." Addie deliberately avoided Alanna's eyes now, knowing that she would see right through this.

Alanna didn't have time to deliberate the point because at that moment, there was a knock on the door. "That would be Numair," she said, "stay there."

Addie sat and fidgeted as she heard Numair and Alanna talking in low whispers at the door. They came in together. Alanna sat back into the chair she had just vacated. Numair sat in the chair on the other side of her. Addie struggled to keep her magic inside her essence; it was always harder when she got scared. She saw Alanna fingering the stone at her throat and gulped.

"Do you know why you are here?" Numair asked kindly. Addie stared at her knees and shook her head. "Do you remember when I tested you for magic and then told you that I would have to bring in another mage to help me test you?" Addie hesitated, and then nodded. "I did that because your essence was foggy and I couldn't tell whether or not you had the Gift, though you didn't appear to. The fogginess could also mean that someone has possessed your mind and is controlling your actions. We are going to test you now."

Alanna's hands started glowing purple and Numair's started to glow black, with white flecks. Addie shrank back into her chair. Alanna and Numair got up and moved towards her chair. Addie brought her knees to her chest and buried her face in them, tears running down her face from fear. She started rocking back and forth muttering "no magic, no magic." Alanna and Numair looked at each other. They had not been prepared for this. They advanced on her and gently started to pry her arms away from her face.

As soon as their hands made contact with the girl's forehead, they sent their magic in to test her for magic. They didn't waste time searching in any other part of her for magic; they went straight to her essence. Alanna nudged the white ball that was the girl's essence and immediately silver fire started pouring out of it. Alanna and Numair instantly retreated from the girl's head. They sat back down in their respective chairs and stared at her. They had stumbled upon a girl with enough power to become as powerful a mage as either of them, if not more.

Addie was still sobbing. She had turned sideways in the armchair and was pressed against the back of it. Alanna sat next to her and rubbed her back. This seemed to have no effect on the girl. She pulled Addie into a hug. Addie resisted for a second, and then began sobbing into Alanna's shoulder. Alanna just sat and rocked her until her sobbing subsided into hiccups.

Alanna looked over at Numair who was sitting staring into the fire, contemplating something. He looked over at her and they shared a glance that said that they had to do something, a girl with this much power was a danger to herself and others.

"Why didn't you ever tell anybody?" Alanna asked the girl.

Addie shrugged. "I never wanted it; in fact, I've wanted to get rid of it."

"Well, that's not an option," Numair said, "You are going into training, starting at the end of Midwinter." Addie shrank back into the chair, away from Alanna. She hugged her knees and leaned her head against the back of the chair. Alanna rubbed her back again and shot Numair a look.

"Think about it," Alanna said. "In the meantime, let me heal your eye and ankle." Addie shook her head. "You've got to get over your fear of magic sometime."

Addie sat there for a few minutes considering. She was afraid of the magic, but if she was going to start lessons in magic, there would be a lot scarier stuff than healing that she would have to face. She finally turned around.

Alanna reached a purple glowing hand towards her eye. Addie shrank back and Alanna took her hand away. "Not until you are ready," she said. "Do you think that you can do this?" Addie hesitated and then turned away again. Alanna sighed. This was not some random fear; this was a fear that had a distinct origin.

"Well, let's try the ankle then," Alanna said. Addie brought her foot out from under herself, wincing slightly, and made no attempt to remove her boot. Her ankle throbbed with pain causing tears to come to her eyes. Alanna gently took the boot and slowly ooched it off of Addie's foot, causing Addie to wince and her good eye to water. Once the boot and the bandaging was off, Addie's foot puffed up to over twice its usual size. Addie tried to put it back under herself, but was forced to stop due to the pain. Alanna put her hands on it. Addie tried to pull away. Coolness suddenly ran through the pain and Addie almost sighed with relief. "Any other injuries that you would like me to see to?" Alanna asked. Addie shook her head. "Well then, it's getting late. Go to bed."

"Thank you," Addie said and fled from the room.

Most of Midwinter passed without much incident. No one knew about her meeting with Alanna and Numair and Addie was not about to tell the world that she had the Gift. Addie gave her gifts to a maid be sent out by the palace staff. She gave Jo a necklace, Ryan a small statue she had bought in the market, Tyler a new sheet of music, Luka a small statue that was in the likeness of Eye, who the big boy had taken a liking too, and gave the rest other such small gifts. When she awoke on the seventh day, she found a small pile of gifts at the end of her bed. Jo had given her a book on horses, Ryan gave her a lucky charm, Luka had given her a necklace with a fish on it (this was due to the fact that he had found out that she had never been to the ocean), and the others had given her such presents as she had given them.

There was one package that she got that wasn't from one of her friends. It was wrapped in brown paper. In it, there was a winter coat of good make, a dagger, and a small jar labeled "Bruise Balm." As she lifted the winter coat, a note fell out. It read:

_God bless, lady page. We wait for you to join our rank._

She gulped as she realized that this must be from the Lioness and the Protector of the Small. She heard a knock and opened the door to let Jo in.

"Did you receive-" Jo started to ask. Addie nodded. Jo looked over the package. "I got the same stuff."

"I guess they want us to succeed," Addie said quietly.

"I guess so," Jo replied.

On the final day of Midwinter, Addie, Jo, Tyler, Ryan, Zachary, Joseph, Connor, Daniel, Luka, and Braden decided to go for a ride. They had the day off until evening serving, so Lord haMinch let them go, with of course, the promise to be back in time for serving. Addie was on Sundancer; Jo was on Feather; Tyler was on his light bay mare, Viola; Ryan was on his buttermilk buckskin gelding, Pleoc; Zachary was on his small grulla gelding, Blade; Joseph was on his pretty chestnut mare, Missy; Connor was on his large seal brown gelding, Cocoa; Daniel was on his huge chestnut gelding, Ember; Luka was on his flea bitten gray mare, Angie; and Braden was on a short fat strawberry roan mare, Salmon.

Addie put her seashell tack on her horse and got on from the ground. They all rode out, their horses prancing through the snow and plowing through drifts. They chatted and laughed. As soon as they turned a bend in the road and were heading down a road that was never traveled anymore, they kicked their horses into a gallop.

As she felt the wind whip through her hair and felt her horse surging powerfully beneath her, Addie thought _I have the best friends in the world._

_I hope that includes me, _said Sundancer.

"Of course it does," Addie whispered, "You are my best friend in the entire world." Sundancer shook her mane in happiness and ran faster.

They returned to the stable just before noon, their cheeks pink and their horses puffing. They put up their horses. After lovingly cleaning every crease of her seashell saddle, Addie spent extra time in the stable grooming and talking to Sundancer.

"She can't understand you," Jo said laughing.

"I like to believe she can, and you never know, with the Wildmage around. . ." Addie replied playfully.

Jo smiled, noting the change in Addie's usually somber mood. "You never know," she agreed. "So, Feather, how is the hay today? I know that you are partial to the timothy, but I wonder if you would like to branch out a bit and try the brome."

_Not on your life_, Feather said, although only Addie could understand her; _Brome is dry and sticks in my teeth. If you feed me that, I will have to buck you off._ She sneezed on Jo's shirt.

Addie laughed; hearing Feather's reply and seeing Jo wipe the horse boogers off. "I think you have your answer there!"

Jo laughed. They finished grooming their horses and put them away. They each mixed up a mash of bran, oats, carrots, and molasses and gave it to their respective horses. Addie mixed up an extra one, minus the molasses, and gave it to Eye.

Addie and Jo then walked up to the castle together, debating the merits of various horse foods. Addie thought that timothy hay was the best while Jo disagreed and said that alfalfa was better.

"Well of course it's better, if you want your horse to be all hyped up! Timothy is better as food."

"I want my horse to have energy. And besides, timothy is not very nutritious."

"It is nutritious; it has every nutrient needed to fuel a young, adult, and ageing horse. Alfalfa can cause founder because it is so high in protein. I know this because my father breeds horses."

Jo stopped. "Wait, a little red flag just went up in my brain. Is your father ANTHONY of Rose Cliffs?"

"Yeah, why?"

"He's one of the best horse breeders in the world! Why didn't you tell me? We've been saving up for years to buy one of his stallions!"

"It never came up and anyway, I thought you knew. I am from Rose Cliffs, and you knew that."

"I feel dumb now," Jo said sheepishly.

"As well you should. I can set up a breeding with one of your fief's mares and Eye in a few years, if you're interested. It will be free of charge."

Jo stopped and stared at her. "Will your father allow you to do that?" she asked, slightly awed.

"Of course he will. He gave Sundancer to me when she was pregnant with Eye, and agreed to let me own both of them. I have both of their papers and everything," Addie said nonchalantly.

Jo started walking again. She shook her head. "Do you know the kind of money people will pay to breed their horses to him? Jeez, you'll be set for all your armor and everything through knighthood!" She walked a little farther in silence. They were almost at the pages' wing when she said, "That explains their eyes; Rose Cliff horses always have strangely colored eyes."

Addie nodded. They had reached her room. They said their goodbyes and Jo went to her own room. They had to get changed for their last night of serving.

Addie managed to get through the last night of serving with a minimal amount of bruises. The worst thing that happened to her was when she got sand shoved down the back of her clothing, Although where they had gotten sand from, she would never know. At the end, the pages lined up for Master Oakbridge. He assigned Addie an extra hour of serving every Saturday until she could serve without spilling anything, tripping, or dropping any food. Addie stifled a groan; she would be doing this every Saturday until she became a squire! Along with her was Chase, who had spilled an entire bowl of soup on a foreign dignitary, and Andrew, who had farted while serving a group of priests. They had immediately asked for a new server. Jo had also been assigned an hour of extra serving practice along with lines. A knight had asked her what she thought of the banquets, and she had told him. Due to the fact that she hadn't thought well of the Midwinter banquets (and had said so in Master Oakbridge's hearing), she was punished. Leo and his gang got off with no punishment work.

Addie and Jo returned to their rooms, Jo complaining loudly about her punishment work.

"Queenscove!" It was Lord haMinch. Jo gulped. "I want an essay on respect, to be handed in to me two days from now along with a written apology to Master Oakbridge for the names you were calling him just now." Jo nodded, feigning humility.

As soon as he was gone, she said, "stupid old fart." Addie giggled.

R&R


	13. Magic

After Midwinter, Addie felt refreshed. She still had a lot of punishment work, but she was up to date on all of her class work at least. The first day back was interesting. It started with the hand to hand combat lesson, where they were learning punches.

"Put your back into it laddy!" the Ostrich yelled at Chase, "I can't even feel your punches!"

Chase punched harder, his face going red.

"Harder, harder!" the Ostrich yelled. Chase kept punching harder and harder, his face growing steadily redder. At last, as the Ostrich was still yelling at him, he aimed a punch at her face. She grabbed his fist and flipped him over her shoulder as easily as if he had been a rag doll.

"You will report to me for two bells on Sunday," she said, standing over him, "We will only work on this punch." Chase wheezed an admission from the ground; his breath had been knocked out.

After that, the other pages tried to punch REALLY hard.

Next came weapons training with Lord haMinch. They were working with staffs and shields. Addie tried to block Caden's vicious blows, and ended up with bruises when she failed. It seemed like he had as many arms as an octopus, and that was why he was so quick. Soon they switched. Addie quickly landed almost as many blows on him as he had on her, which made her satisfied.

Then they had archery. Addie, Jo, and Hearenth were consistently hitting the closer targets so the master moved them farther away to a point where even Addie was having trouble hitting them.

After that, Addie sprinted to riding as usual. They were starting weapons from horseback. The first weapon to learn was the lance. Addie took her lance, feeling nervous.

"Take your lance and cross it over your horse's withers," Lord haMinch instructed to the pages at large. "You will try to hit the bulls eye in the target. If you hit it, the quintin will snap back. If you miss, the sandbag will hit you. Good luck. Queenscove, you go first. Rose Cliffs, second. Tameran, third. Wellam, fourth. Seajen, fifth. Naxon, sixth. Line up!" Addie took her place behind Jo.

Jo kicked Feather into a gallop and rose in her stirrups. She carefully aimed for the target, and missed it by a few inches. The sandbag hit her squarely in the back. Addie gulped, it looked painful.

As Jo came back, nursing her bruises, Addie kicked Sundancer into a gallop. She stood in her stirrups and tried to aim her lance. It was very difficult; the point kept swaying from side to side and going up and down. The target was coming nearer with alarming rapidity. Addie tried desperately to steady her lance. She reached the target and missed it entirely. Sundancer shied sideways to avoid running into the side of the target with her shoulder. Addie slipped sideways and almost fell off. She grabbed a hunk of mane and hauled herself back on.

"Horrible!" Lord haMinch yelled, "absolutely horrible! You will report here for two bells on Sunday to work with the lance. Honestly, Rose Cliffs, I expected better." Addie hung her head in shame, holding back the tears that were threatening.

She watched the other first year pages go. They all hit the target, though none of them hit the bull's eye. They all got smacked by the sandbag. Seeing Hearenth get smacked made her feel a little better.

They kept riding for the full two candlemarks. By the end, Addie had succeeded in hitting the target once and hitting the bull's eye zero times. She had fallen for the first time in years when Sundancer, angry about having to continually shy away from the target, had decided to spin around at full gallop and head the other way. Addie fell and rolled like her father had taught her and got right back on. This, however, earned her an extra bell on Sunday.

Addie went to her rooms to bathe, nursing the bruises that she had picked up.

After lunch, Addie had trouble focusing in the classes. Her reading master assigned a book report due at the end of the week; her math teacher thoroughly confused her with the new subject of matrices; and Tkaa started talking about the life cycle of a mermaid. Addie was assigned extra work by all of these classes because she wasn't paying attention. Sir Myles took pity on her in history and didn't assign her any extra work on top of the essay that she had to write for him on the migration of the Bazhir from their old lands to the Great Southern Desert. Master Oakbridge forced her to continue practicing serving in deportment and she earned extra work in music by missing almost every note in her duet with Tyler.

Then she had her class in magic. She had been dreading this ever since her meeting with Alanna and Numair. She dragged her feet all the way to the classroom and brushed Jo off when she asked what was wrong. She entered the room and sat in the very back. She tried to escape Numair's notice. He called no attention to her for most of the class. He lectured on mageblasts as if nothing had happened between them.

Near the end of the class, he called, "Adelaide, I would like a word with you. Please see me after class." When the bell rang, the rest of the students filed out while Addie slowly made her way up to Numair's podium. She clasped her hands and stared at them as she waited for him to speak.

"So, I would like to start your classes in magic as soon as possible," he said, "you have a choice. Either you can take the classes with the other Gifted pages and have that supplemented with a few private lessons a week, or you can have private lessons every day."

"Can I choose neither, sir?" she braved.

"Not an option."

"Private lessons then," she said, "I don't want to be embarrassed by not being able to do anything."

"Fine," he said, "But I think that you can do more than you think you can. You are dismissed."

Addie gave a small bow and hurried out of the classroom. She had not told him that the reason she did not want to take lessons with the other students was because she was worried that she would lose control again, she didn't need that on her conscience.

The next day passed in a blur. She quickly became frustrated when she showed no improvement in tilting. She received more and more punishment work from her teachers for not finishing all their assignments. She knew that she was hopelessly behind on schoolwork again.

After she lunged her stallion, she reported to Numair's classroom for her private lessons. He sat in a chair by the fireplace waiting for her. She noticed that the fireplace was unlit, although it was well stocked with wood. He gestured to the chair next to him and she sat in it.

"We will start with something simple: firemaking," he said. "You have to look at the hearth, and imagine it burning. Then, you have to send some of your magic there to make it so. Have a try." Addie stared at the fire. She didn't want to try. She screwed up her face and made it look like she was trying. He saw through this immediately. "Actually try please," he said, his eyes twinkling. She sighed and looked at the wood and imagined it burning. She sent some power towards the wood.

BOOM! The wood exploded and a cloud of black smoke shot straight up the chimney. Numair, who had used his own magic to keep the explosion in the fireplace, wiped his palms on his tunic. "Okay then, I guess that the first thing we will work on is control." Addie hung her head. "Let's start by meditating. Sit on the floor, no, closer to me, I won't bite, and put your palms on your thighs. Now, close your eyes and let all your thoughts go, let all your worries leave, and relax." Addie tried, but almost immediately her leg cramped and she had to move it. Then her nose itched. Then she got distracted by a fly buzzing in her ear. The annoyances just wouldn't cease.

At the end of the lesson, she knew she hadn't done well. Numair just smiled at her and said, "You'll get better," before ushering her out the door. Addie hurried back to her room. It was just before lights out. She went into her room and, after doing her usual evening exercises, flopped onto her bed. She felt as if she were sinking in water, and when this "water" closed over her head, she was in a deep slumber.

R&R. A new character gets introduced in the next chapter, so be ready!!!!!


	14. Horses

The rest of the winter passed quickly, and before anyone knew it, it was spring. A sickness known as the White Fever spread through the outer regions, killing half of the people who became infected, maiming a quarter, and leaving the rest to bury their dead. City Healers were sent out to these villages to try to help. Most of these Healers didn't return, they either killed themselves by using too much of their strength or contracted the disease themselves. This however did not affect the pages much. Addie became better at avoiding the bullies and at incurring only minor injuries whenever they crossed paths, which Leo and his gang were not happy about. Addie and her friends got caught up on their homework and were finally allowed a trip into the City on the Market Day in March. Addie took the money from below her bottom dresser drawer and hid it in her clothing.

As she rode into the city, her head was turning every which way, trying to take it all in. There were stands full of goods the likes of which she had never imagined. There were blown glass pipes and creatures, swords with hilts wrapped in everything from steel to gold and set with jewels in their pommels, an area where horses were sold, pots from the size of a chipmunk to the size of a horse, necklaces made of seashells and beads, foods that sent delicious smells her way, boots, gloves, and much more.

She and Jo first went to a food stand and bought pastries filled with spiced apples and cream. They ate them as they went to look at gear. They each bought a pack and a bedroll for the page's summer camp in June and other such gear. She also went to the vendor who sold necklaces and bought one made of shells.

Once they had everything they desperately needed, they went to look at horses. It wasn't that either of them needed another horse, they were just looking for a good deal. The first they saw was an old, lame mare that looked like she had been a carthorse once. They shook their heads and went on to the next one. The next horse was a large gelding that had good conformation, except he was pigeon toed in the front and had sickle hocks in the back. They went on to the next horse, a cute pony that only came up to Addie's waist. They went on down the line like this, looking at horses and Addie briefly talking to each one, finding out his or her story and then moving on. Some of them had very sad stories, but Addie was confident that they would go to good homes, this was a no kill auction, meaning that no horse there would be sold to slaughter.

They looked into the second to last stall and gasped. In the stall was a giant mare with blue eyes. She was easily 22hh (88 inches, or 7ft 4in) at the shoulder. She was the largest horse Addie had ever seen. Once she got over the huge size of the horse, she began to look at the horse's conformation. The horse had long, straight legs, a deep chest, and a pretty head. She was almost perfectly conformed in other words. She was almost on par with Anthony's horses. They had been wanting to breed size into their line, anyway. The bad part was the mare was filthy. Her mane and tail were matted with burrs and feces and she had large stains on her sides. It was difficult to tell what color she was under the filth, but Addie would guess that she was a chocolate palomino. Addie looked at the man standing next to the stall.

"May I go in?" she asked.

The man leered at her, showing crooked yellow teeth. "What would a child like you want with this much horse?" he asked back.

"I like horses, and I've been wanting a nice, large, horse," she answered, "Now, may I go in?"

"If you like, but careful, she's mean." Addie thanked him and entered the stall. The mare drew herself up and pinned her ears. Addie spoke to her softly. The mare pricked her ears, catching the magic in Addie's voice.

_What in the name of the Horse Lords are you? You look like a human, but smell like People. If you are People, I welcome you not. If you are a human, I welcome you less_ she said.

"I am human," Addie muttered, so that Jo and the old man wouldn't hear her, "But what quarrel have you with I? I have done nothing to warrant your hate, and I can offer you a good home with open space and sweet hay."

_Human, your kind has taken me and my relatives from our home, taken me on a ship far from my homeland, and killed my dam, sire, and sister. I no longer have a wish to return home, for nothing waits for me there but painful memories and shattered dreams, but I wish to be left alone. Why should I trust you? Your kind has brought me nothing but pain._

"I have done those things; I can give you a good home. Will you permit me to bring you home, where you can start a new family and make new friends?"

The horse thought about it for a minute, and the said _I will come with you human, but not because I like you or your kind. I just want to be with my kindred again and I would like to regain some semblance of a life._

"I'll take her," Addie said to the old man. "How much?"

"100 gold nobles," the man said with greed gleaming in his eyes.

"She's not worth 20," Addie said scornfully.

_I resent that,_ the mare snapped.

"80 then," the old man said.

"30."

"75."

"40."

"Fine, 60, but that's as low as I'll go."

"We have a deal," Addie said. She dug the money out of her pouch (she had a lot of money here because her parents had wanted her to have enough for anything she might possibly need, and she had more back at her room) and paid him. "Do you have a halter or tack?" she asked.

The man shook his head. "She's your problem now," he said and disappeared into the crowd. Addie sighed. She went to a nearby vendor and bought a length of rope. She fashioned a halter and lead rope from it. She stood on a stool to put it on. The horse raised her head indignantly.

_Why are you putting that, THING, on my head? They hurt and pull and I don't like them._

"Will you leave it on for appearance's sake? I won't pull or anything, I give you my word," Addie muttered into her ear. "What is your name, anyway?"

_Braith. That is what my family called me. You two leggers called me stupid names like "Kidskin" and "Milk Mane," my name is who I am. I am Braith._

"Ok, Braith. Let us go up to the castle."

_So, you are a noble. I heard stink man talking about nobles. He doesn't like them. He is jealous, I believe. _

Addie unlocked the gate and led Braith out. As soon as they were out of the stall, Braith started walking quickly, pulling Addie along. Addie ran to keep up. Jo followed laughing.

"I can't believe you bought her," Jo said.

"We have been wanting to breed size into our line for a while," Addie said with a shrug (which was hard to do while being dragged along by a 3000 pound horse).

Jo had bought a little mare, about 15hh, for her pack horse for the summer. This horse was a little dapple gray and was very sweet. Jo had gotten her for one gold noble. The little mare was currently carrying everything they had bought that day, because they weren't sure that Braith would appreciate a pack on her, or if the packs would fit on her.

"What will you name her?" Jo asked.

"Braith," Addie answered.

"I am not sure why, but it really fits her," Jo said. Addie didn't answer because Braith had sped up slightly, forcing Addie to alter her speed.

By the time they got back up to the castle, it was noon and Addie was out of breath. Braith had dragged her pretty much the entire way and was now standing, waiting for Addie to direct her to a stall. On the road, people had gaped at them as they had passed. It wasn't just that the horse was big; it was that she wasn't built like a draft horse. She was proportioned like a normal horse, just huge. Addie gently led her to a cross tie area. The grooms they saw on the way gawked at the mare. She looked at the cross ties and then at the horse.

"Will you consider staying in one place while I groom you?" she asked.

_Yes. Those clips would not stop me if I wished to leave. But I assume that you had thought of that, which is why you are asking. If you beat me though, I will leave. I am also hungry. If you could get me some food. . . _

"Hey, Jo!" Addie yelled.

"What?" Jo yelled back.

"Can you get me some timothy hay?"

"Sure!"

Jo came around the corner a few minutes later, staggering under a giant flake of hay. She deposited it in front of the horse and dusted her hands off.

"Hey, can I help?" she asked, motioning towards Addie who was attempting to untangle the horse's mane. Addie nodded and Jo went and got another stool. Together, they worked through Braith's mane and tail, using buckets of water along with combs. They then washed off Braith's body and put creams and lotions on her to make her shiny. After about five hours, Braith was stunning. They stepped back to look at her. She was striking, with a deep sable body set off by a snow white mane, tail, socks, and a bald face, which went over her eyes, making them blue.

She swished her tail. _Please put me somewhere with food and water and, preferably, other horses. I have not been allowed to socialize since the stink man caught me a few months back. You know, he has been bringing me from horse fair to horse fair, trying to sell me. I have attacked everyone before you. The way he would transfer me is he would tie a bag over my head and then hobble me. I had no choice but to follow him. _

Addie led the horse to the pasture where Sundancer, Feather, Viola, and fifteen other mares, none of which belonged to pages. She took Braith's halter off and stepped back. Braith reared, shaking her head and mane and took off running. She was beauty in motion, her long legs eating up the ground and her mane and tail blowing in the breeze.

Sundancer pinned her ears and reared, trying to dominate the larger horse. Braith stopped and bowed her head submissively. She had no desire to become lead mare. Happy, Sundancer tossed her head and led the small herd into a gallop.

Addie shut her eyes and listened to them. Suddenly, she was among them, running for the joy of it. They crested a hill and ran along the fence. This was how horses bonded, running and playing. They stopped under a tree. Addie and Sundancer began scratching each other's withers.

Suddenly, Addie was shaken back to her body. She looked up into Jo's worried eyes. "What?" she asked.

"You scared me. You sat there, sitting with your eyes shut but without your head drooping, it was creepy. You were like that for about half an hour. Are you ok?"

"Never better. I was listening to the horses."

Jo shrugged, disbelief written on her face, "Whatever you say."

They went and got their goods out of the packs and stored them. Addie put on her seashell necklace. They went up to the castle for dinner.

Stefan watched them leave. He immediately went and told Lady Daine about the horse.

"A big black beauty, ma'am, with a white mane and tail. She's a good horse, but she doesn't look easy to handle. I'm wondering how the child did it; she scarce comes up to the mare's knees! I was wondering if you would have a chat with the horse, she refused to talk to me."

Daine looked up from the small dragon, Kitten, she was playing with. "That horse does sound interesting," she said, "How tall did you say she was?"

"I would guess her to be around 22 hh, Ma'am."

"Please, call me Daine. I'll go see her after I put Rikash and Sarralyn to bed."

Two hours later, Daine hopped the fence into the pasture. The horses crowded around her, all except for a large black mare with a white mane and tail. She looked the horse over, Stefan was right, she was beautiful. She also had a proud look to her, he was also right about her not being easy to handle.

She walked over to the mare and blew into her nostrils by way of horse greeting. The mare did not return the favor. "What is your name, beautiful?" Daine asked, looking up at the horse.

_What business is it of yours?_

_The question from one friend to another._

_If you were my friend, you would know my name. _

_I wish to be your friend; therefore I wish to know your name._

_It is Braith, if that makes you happy. You wish to ask me something. Spit it out, or leave me alone. _Daine sighed, this was a SMART horse.

_Where did you come from?_

_The wave child bought me from the stink man at market today._

_Before that, and why do you call her the wave child?_

_She is clearly a child of the ocean, but she does not know, so don't tell her. I come from a land on the other side of the world. I was taken from my home with my dam when I was still at her teat. I am now four years old, and much too world weary. My dam and sire fought to protect and my sister, Eilir. The two leggers killed them. I was but a yearling and Eilir was a year older. We were taken to pull loads. I was given lighter loads, because I was smaller and younger. She collapsed in harness and they whipped her. Last I saw her, she was lying limp and bloody in her harness. _

_Are there others of your size where you came from?_

_They are larger than your ponies, but even for them, we were large. That is why we were targeted for capture. We were of an ancient race, and now I am the last left. The others besides our family interbred with the smaller folk. We were the last of our size. I guess that, to continue my line, I must breed with a small horse as well. I am not sad, I have made friends here. I like the wave child; I believe that she will treat me well, though I don't trust my instincts anymore. She must pass my tests to earn my trust._

_So, does that mean she has Wild Magic then?_

_Yes, it is as strong as your own._

The next night, Addie added lunging, or rather attempting to lunge, Braith to her evening ritual. After a bunch of wheedling, Braith agreed not to pull her around. That, however, did not mean that she would run.

"Please? It's good exercise, and it serves to teach you how to be a good riding horse."

_But what if I don't want to be a riding horse?_

"You'd like it."

_Who says I'd like it?_

"Most horses do. And, you'd be able to go out of the palace grounds."

_That might be worth it._

"Really?"

_No._

Addie sighed. This might take a while. But if she could convince Braith to be a riding horse, she would be perfect as a war charger. She needed another riding horse, anyway. She had yet to start Eye under a saddle, mainly because he had so much energy and such a strong will. He was also very interested in mares, which wouldn't work too well with all the other page's horses. It would take her full strength and energy to break him to saddle, and she didn't have the energy with all the other classes she was taking.

She eventually gave up on lunging and put Braith back into the pasture, after making her promise that she wouldn't tell Daine about Addie's wild magic, at this Braith agreed, because, since she had already told Daine, there was no reason to disagree. She was surprised, though, that Daine had not already confronted the girl about it.

Addie went then to her lesson with Numair. She knocked quietly on his door.

"Come in," she heard from within. She had made little progress in the three months. She had mastered meditation, but she still blew up things. When she had tried to make a rock levitate, it had crashed through the ceiling and remained stuck there. They had made no attempt to remove it. She went in. Numair was sitting in his chair by the fire. "I have decided to try something new today," he said, "I will go inside your mind and show you how to perform the spells that I am trying to teach you."

"Can I decline, sir?" Addie asked. She was a private person and did NOT wish for her teacher to be snooping around in her mind.

"Don't worry," he said, "I won't be able to see your thoughts or memories. I will only be able to show you how to use your magic." Addie agreed hesitantly. She sat still as he placed his fingers on her forehead. "Try to relax; it will make it easier on both of us." She nodded and took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.

He took her deep into her mind, to the place where her silver fire pooled. He showed her how to take just a small chunk of it and throw it at the logs in the fireplace. They burst into fire. Addie gave a small gasp. It had felt so _easy_!

"Are you ready to try it now?" he asked from above her. She nodded. She felt him withdraw from her mind. "Try extinguishing the fire," he said. Addie took a tiny chunk of her magic and spread it like a blanket over the fire. Lacking oxygen, it was quickly snuffed out. Numair nodded in satisfaction, "now light it again." Addie threw a small bit of her magic at the logs and imagined them burning. They sprang into a cheery fire. He had her do this again and again, until she could do it without the hand motions. "That is enough for today," he said, "I believe that we are finally making some progress." Addie grinned at him and nodded.

"I never imagined that it could be so easy, sir, and so easy to control. I thought that it would take me over again. . ."

"Again?"

"Never mind, sir."

"Well okay, be here tomorrow night at the same time." Addie nodded, bowed, and left the room. As she passed the unlit torches, she lit them with drops of her magic, wondering at the ease at which it occurred. She had been so caught up in her fears that she had been getting in her own way of learning the magic. She did her evening exercises and then went to bed, still in wonder of the magic that she had performed.

Addie progressed at an astounding rate in her magic classes after that. Her confidence improved so much that even her other teachers began to notice. She began to do better in all her classes. She had even begun to hit the shield, if not the target, in jousting.

The White Fever continued to spread. It hit the Great Southern Desert hard, killing half of the Bazhir and other people who lived there. Half of the rest were maimed for life, their eyes white and blind and their hearing impaired. It spread up along the River Olorun and killed people in the villages along the riverbanks. Over a quarter of the kingdom had already died from the disease. Mages tried to find where this sickness had come from and if there were any cures, but all their searches turned up nothing. To make matters worse, a drought was overtaking the Northern fiefdoms. Addie's father was forced to buy expensive hay from overseas to feed his stock. But still, life in the palace continued as usual.

One day in early May, the pages were preparing to joust again. Addie patted Sundancer. She wished that Braith would allow her to ride her, but at least she was lunging now. She had worked out a deal where she would visit more often and bring more carrots in return.

"Rose Cliffs, you're up first!" Addie readied her lance and nudged her mare into a gallop. Sundancer felt good, she was picking up her feet and frisking like a filly. She had her head held high and was taking joy in the run down the stretch. She leveled out and ran at her top speed, which was considerable, down the stretch to the quintin. Addie lowered her lance and took careful aim. She had just touched the shield when she felt everything go wrong. Sundancer caught her feet on something and tripped. She fell, shoulder first, into the ground and skidded toward the fence. Addie her breeches, along with the skin on her leg, get ripped off as it, being trapped beneath the horse and the ground, was scraped along. Horse and rider lay there for long moments, just breathing and wondering at the fact that they were both alive.

"Are you okay?" Addie murmured through gritted teeth at her own pain.

_Right foreleg . . . hurts . . . left side scraped, pain_ was the only response she got. Addie heard hoof beats. She saw Lord haMinch get off his horse.

"Are you alive, Rose Cliffs?" he asked.

"Yes sir," she replied weakly from the ground.

"Sir, sir!" Another voice came from behind him, "I found a trip wire by the quintin." Addie shut her eyes. She had a fair idea who had set this trip wire. Leo and his friends had gone too far this time. She was now determined to settle the score with them once and for all. But how to do it? She couldn't use magic, everyone would say she had cheated, and she couldn't tell her friends. This was her battle. She steeled herself to train harder than ever.

"Take your foot out of the stirrup, Rose Cliffs. We will lift the horse off of you. The Wildmage is on her way down from the castle to see to her injuries." Addie complied. She felt a great weight lift off of her as the pages helped Sundancer roll back onto her legs. Jo and Luka carefully lifted Addie out of the way. Sundancer groaned as the pages let her roll back onto her side. Addie looked down at her leg and swore. Blood was running down her leg and soaking through what was left of her breeches.

"I can stop the bleeding," Jo said, "but I don't know enough to heal this deep of a wound." She knelt and let her green fire roll over Addie's leg. Addie had given up her fear of Healers long ago now.

She heard a shout from the other side of the meadow. She looked to see Jo's father and Daine running across the field toward then. Daine went to Sundancer and placed her hands on the mare's side and shut her eyes. Neal took over from his daughter.

"You little idiot," he said, "what have you done to yourself now?"

"I must say, sir, that it is less of what I did to myself than what the gods have willed for me," she replied dryly. She watched as new, unbroken skin flowed over the wound. He helped her to her feet.

"Try to stay out of trouble for the next few days, and eat a good meal and sleep," he told her.

"Not until I find out if my horse is okay," she said, meeting his eyes levelly.

"Fine, but after that, get some rest." He left, heading back up to the castle. Addie held Sundancer's head in her lap as Daine worked on her. After about a candlemark, Daine came out of her trance.

"I healed as much as I could, Addie," she said, looking at her, "but you must understand, she was really badly injured. She broke several bones and tore a lot of ligaments. I'm afraid that it will be years before she is suitable for anything besides broodmare work."

Addie nodded. She let her blond bangs fall into her eyes to hide the tears that had welled up. She stroked Sundancer's face. Daine had put a sleeping spell on her, so she lay as still as death. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Daine was standing there.

"I really am sorry you know. Now come on, we have to get her back to her stall." She helped Addie up and then knelt by Sundancer. She placed her hands on the mare's face and Sundancer opened her beautiful black eyes. Addie and Daine steadied her as she got up and then slowly, the woman and the girl led the limping horse back to the stables.

R&R please. Oh, and tell me who you think Addie's knightmaster should be, I know she has two tears ahead of her, but I am significantly ahead of the story in my own writing, so I would like to know.


	15. Preparations

Without Sundancer, Addie didn't have a riding mount. She knew that she had three choices, borrow a horse from the Crown (which she was loath to do because she was somewhat of a horse snob), write her father for a new mount which could take months to come, or train Eye or Braith. She chose to start Eye, because she was not sure how Braith would take the change.

She explained to him her endeavor and he agreed to help her to the best of his ability. He was young though, just turned four. He didn't want to be ridden and was easily spooked and excited. He was in all respects a teenage boy. He also showed a great interest in mares, a little too much for his age.

She got on him for the first time the night after Sundancer was lamed. He immediately freaked out and started bucking. She held on for about two minutes as he bucked, spun, and tried his best to land her in the dirt. He succeeded and she landed, getting a face full of sand. She tried again, but this endeavor too met the same fate. She was a stubborn girl however and just kept getting back on no matter how many times he bucked her off. After about a candlemark, she managed to get him to walk around the ring without bucking. Deciding that this was enough for the night, she put him away.

The next day, she was forced to ride Eye with the other pages. Luckily, it was not a tilting day. He lunged at the geldings and made advances on the mares. Feather landed a sound kick on his ribs, which made him squeal and prance. He threw Addie four times, and caused various amounts of trouble. She was assigned four candlemarks of extra riding that Sunday as a penalty.

Addie knew that this was NOT going to work, but she didn't want to borrow a Crown horse and didn't have the time to write to her father for a new mount. She had to try to reason with Braith. Later that night, she approached Braith with a proposition.

"Excuse me Braith, do you have a moment?"

_I have a moment or several moments or however much time you want. I have nothing better to do._

Addie crossed her fingers. "I was wondering if you would let me ride you."

_Out of the question. Have we not been through this before?_

"I have something to offer this time that I have not offered before, and I was wondering if we would be able to make a deal."

_Well, spit it out, though I doubt that it will make me reconsider._

"If you let me use you as a warhorse, I will help you find out what happened to Eilir." Braith had told her of her sister and the last time she had seen her.

_She is dead._

"But how do you know? Did you see her dead? From what you told me, she was merely injured. For all we know, she might still be alive somewhere. I don't believe that you really believe that she is not alive. And if she is dead, at least you will know for sure." Addie held her breath, waiting for the reply. Braith stared at her in amazement.

_Fine, but I have several conditions. One, no bit. Two, no spurs besides what you are required to use. Three, we will use the voice commands walk, trot, canter, gallop, charge, whoa, and go faster. Four, you must tell the Wildmage's husband about your wild magic. I told her about it the first night I was here, before you bade me to not tell. _

"I agree to the first three, but must I tell him? What purpose does that serve?"

_It serves more than you will ever know. And, I believe that it will aid you in finding my sister. Also, he can teach you to heal animals. You might even be able to heal Sundancer for good that way, which would be a load off of my back- literally. _

"Fine," she scowled, "I'll tell him tonight. Now, may we practice a little before I just hop on you tomorrow? I would not appreciate falling off in front of my peers."

It took Addie a while to get the saddle onto the horse. The, she had to find a girth to fit the saddle. She eventually made one by punching holes in a strip of sturdy leather. She found a hackamore bridle and lengthened the cheek pieces and the noseband to fit. She also had to find longer reins because the ones that came with it barely reached halfway down Braith's neck. Then came the challenge of getting onto her horse. She tried a stool, a bucket, and a chair, but they were all too short. She eventually made a loop out of a length of rope and caught it on the front part of her saddle. She hauled herself up using it.

She looked around. She was really high up. She gently touched Braith with her left foot and twitched her right rein. "This means turn right." The lesson continued on from there. Braith learned quickly and was willing to obey the girl who had rekindled the hope that she might have her beloved Eilir returned to her.

Addie entered Numair's classroom, her mouth dry. He looked up from his writings. "Ah, Addie, good to see you. I thought we would move on to the subject of protective walls tonight."

"That's fine, sir, but I have something to tell you first. It's important."

Numair set down his quill and looked at her. "What is it, youngling?"

"Um, my horse told me that she wouldn't let me ride her unless I told you about my wild magic, so, um, yeah. I have wild magic with animals. I can speak to them and I have a special bond with them."

"Hmmm, I was wondering when you were going to tell me."

"You knew?"

"Yes, Daine told me."

"Why didn't you ask me about it, sir?"

"I knew that either you would tell me about it, or I would have to find a tactful time to mention it."

"Oh."

"Well, all that does is put variation in our lessons. Tonight, we will work on protective shields. Tomorrow, we will start training your wild magic." Addie bowed to him, smiling. He was really easy to work with and he always understood how she was feeling.

Numair guided her through the incantation that called up of a wall of protection. He did not mention to her that this was a far more advanced spell than she had been working with, he just wanted to see how she did. He did not expect her to call up the wall on her first try and was very surprised when a shimmering silver wall appeared between them.

"So mote it be," Addie muttered.

"Well done Addie," Numair said enthusiastically, "On our Gift nights, we will be working on far more advanced spells. I will also get Alanna in to teach you Healing." Addie beamed; Healing was an art that she had a strong desire to learn. "It will be hard though, she is currently working with a group of other mages to find a cure for the White Fever. You may have to wait several months." Addie bowed her head. It was to be expected. "You have done well tonight, you may go." Addie bowed to him and left the room thinking. What caused the White Fever? Would Alanna find a cure for it? Would she, Addie, ever learn to Heal? What was she going to do about her problem with Leo and his gang? She went through her evening exercises and fell asleep, her mind still buzzing with questions, many of which did not have answers.

The next day, Addie brought out Braith for the riding lesson. It was another lesson in jousting, which served as a problem seeing as Addie was now a good foot above where she used to be. She had to angle her lance down to hit the shield. She was hitting the shield almost every time now and even hitting the target a lot of the time. Jo and most of the others had progressed to shields with targets that were more difficult to hit, but Addie was content to remain where she was.

When the class first saw Braith, their eyes widened and Addie caught many whispered remarks about her size. Whenever they heard a compliment, Braith would prance. Whenever they heard a criticism, Braith would pin her ears and Addie would have to hold her back from attacking the person.

Braith turned out to be an awesome horse. She hopped over the jumps as if they were not even there. She excelled at Dressage because, due to her extreme intelligence, she could understand what Lord haMinch was trying to get them to do. Addie suspected that she liked being ridden, though it would be like pulling teeth to ever get the horse to admit it.

That night, Numair started Addie with wild magic.

"As a start, lets try calling animals over. Try for Braith. Oh, one catch, you can't use your mouth."

"But how am I supposed to call her without speaking?"

"I see, you are like Daine, you are confusing your voice with your magic. Even when you are speaking to them with your voice, you are actually speaking to them with your mind. Concentrate now."

Addie tried. She took her magic and sent a tendril of it out to Braith.

_Come here please,_ she thought. Braith did not even twitch. Addie sighed; they shouldn't have started with Braith, it was impossible to know if she had heard or not because she might be staying where she was just to be spiteful. Addie chose not to mention this to Numair.

She tried for about an hour, with Braith and other horses, but made no progress. Numair did not seem discouraged. "We'll try again in two days," he said. Addie returned to her room, did her exercises, and then lay in her bed thinking. When she fell asleep, she dreamed of waves.

Addie knew that she had to learn to really fight. The next morning, she got up extra early and, after doing her exercises, went to find the Shang Ostrich. She told the Ostrich the rudiments of her problem, not including names or other such specifics. The Ostrich agreed to give her private lessons in the early mornings. She started by teaching Addie a new punch and kick that she never taught the other pages. She also showed Addie a new throw and a new fall. Addie collected a few new bruises, and then went to breakfast, proud of her accomplishment.

Kylaia watched the girl go. She had wondered when the child was going to ask for help. She had watched the poor child getting beaten up every day since near the beginning of her training. She was determined to make the girl a ferocious fighter, strong enough to beat all the boys that were picking on her. Kylaia was stubborn; she had taught herself to fight from watching the animals of the plains and mirroring their movements until she was perfect. She sighed and went to talk to the Falcon about a training plan for Addie.

The next month passed in a blur for Addie. Every morning, along with her own exercises, she trained with the Shang Ostrich. Kylaia was a ruthless teacher; she made Addie start every morning lesson by sprinting until she threw up. She then had the exhausted Addie practice punches, kicks, throws, and ways to break an attacker's hold. Addie improved exponentially from this training; she was soon among the best in her hand to hand combat class. She and Jo were paired up often, because Jo had been trained in hand to hand fighting since her birth. Jo still kicked her butt all the time, but Addie was catching up to her fast and kicked Jo's butt back sometimes. Jo couldn't fathom how this was possible, because she didn't know about Addie's morning training.

Addie was also learning how to ride Braith. It took all of her strength and wit to ride the mare. She soon advanced behind the other pages in jousting but before them in most other respects. She trained Braith to fight like a warhorse and to do various other tricks, like to pin a man to the ground beneath her hoof, without crushing him. Addie kept her word to Braith by writing to her father and asking him to ask around about a giant black and white marbled mare. He wrote back that he would keep his eye out, but that he hadn't heard of one. She also asked Daine to search for Eilir in her spare time. Daine agreed to keep and eye out. Addie was also riding Eye in the evenings. She still fell off of him often, but he was getting better. Addie could have written to her father about sending a trainer down to Corus to train him, but he had taught her that the ultimate bond between horse and rider came from raising the horse from a foal and training it. So, Addie stuck it out. His training came along much more slowly than Braith's.

With all that and her other lessons, Addie was exhausted by afternoon. She was a good swordswoman for her age, but was nowhere near the level of the Lioness or Lord haMinch yet. She was doing decently in archery and with various weapons as well. She still epically failed at boxing and wrestling. The other pages pinned her within seconds. She had improved at boxing, but it was still difficult to fight within the rules of boxing.

In the afternoon, Addie barely kept up with all her classes. She understood math, but the problems were long and complicated, leaving much room for error. Her other classes were mostly research and writing, supplemented by everything she had learned as a child.

She was also learning quickly in her lessons with Numair in the evenings. She quickly mastered everything he gave her to try with her Gift, but she learned slowly with her Wild Magic. Her crowning glory was when she lifted herself off of the ground and floated across the room, using only her Gift. Numair clapped.

"We will start delving into really advanced magic then," he said, "you are ready." Addie beamed with pleasure.

At night, Addie forced herself through her exercises and homework and then fell into bed exhausted. Every night, she dreamed about waves and a strange man with black hair and dark gray eyes. In her dream, he stood on the deck of a ship and stared off into the water. Then, he would get frustrated and throw a bolt of dark gray fire out into the ocean yelling, "Damn it bitch, I still love you. Will you never let me see you again, or to talk to you? You are driving me mad!!!" And then he would turn his back on the ocean, sigh, and go into the cabin. Addie had this dream over and over again. She wondered what it meant, but was too busy to give it much thought.

One morning in mid June, the Shang Ostrich stopped her in the middle of training. Addie stopped and looked at her. "Ma'am?"

"You are ready to fight child, you need not wait any longer," the Shang Ostrich told her.

"Am I?"

"You have the skills to beat the young lads, but you will only be ready when you believe in yourself. Are you ready?"

"I am."

"You know what to do, pick your time and place. Use the environment to your advantage and don't let them sneak up from behind you. Keep confidence and remember what is at stake. Good luck."

Addie bowed to her. "Thank you, ma'am Ostrich. I will keep your advice in mind during the fight." Addie left to mentally prepare herself for the fight to come.

R&R please


	16. The next phase

During the weapons training, Jo sent Lord haMinch and the weapons master on a wild goose chase. Addie had asked her to create a diversion so that she could do "something." Jo had not questioned her, but had simply done as Addie asked. She hoped that Addie was about to kick the butts of the boys who had raped her. Jo knew that the only reason she herself had not been picked on was because she was a highly trained hand to hand fighter, thanks to her Yamani mother's wish for her to be thoroughly trained. She told Lord haMinch that the Shang Ostrich had wanted to see him immediately (she had arranged this with Kylaia beforehand) and she told the training master that he had been called for by a noble (she made sure that the noble whose name she used was often at the palace but happened to not be there at the moment and she had the palace staff lead him on a wild goose chase with "Oh, he was just in the. . ." and other such remarks).

Addie walked towards Leo and his cronies, wiping her sweaty palms on her tunic. "Excuse me everyone. May I have your attention?" She cleared her suddenly dry throat. "Hearenth is a fobbing unwashed malt-worm. Caden is a paunchy unchin-snouted haggard. William is the son of a malkin and a slimy knave. Leo now, Leo is a rank clay brained lout. His mother was a fat pig and his father had a foot fetish. The best part about him is that he sleeps with other men. What have you to say, boys?"

The four boys stared at her for a second and then leapt towards her. She dived left and rolled back onto her feet, causing them to miss her and crash into each other. She kicked sideways and felt Hearenth's knee crack and dislocate. She felt at least one tendon tear. He shrieked. She ducked as Leo rushed her and rammed him in the stomach. He bent in half retching. While he was preoccupied, Addie swept the feet out from under Caden and watched as he broke his wrist by putting his hand out to catch himself as he felt (the number one do not in hand to hand fighting). She kicked William hard in the groin and then broke his nose. She knocked him out with a punch. She then turned just in time to elbow Leo in the face. He grabbed for her and caught her around the chest. She stamped on his foot and shoved her thumb into his eye. He growled and clung tighter. Addie grabbed his hand and pressed on the fleshy pad between his thumb and forefinger. He gasped as the pressure point was pushed and let her go with that hand. To take care of his other hand, Addie dug her thumbnail into the base of his fingernail. He screamed and let go. She punched up and under his chin. He dropped like a stone, out cold. She turned to Caden who was nursing his wrist and Hearenth who was trying to walk on a crippled knee. "Do you yield?" Hearenth nodded, his face white from pain. Caden threw a wild punch at her that caught her on the collarbone. She gritted her teeth as pain shot through her body from that pressure point and broke his other arm. "Done yet?" He nodded. "Then admit it, and say sorry."

"I am sorry for beating you up."

"And?"

"And I am sorry for what we did to you."

"Which was?"

"Fine. I am sorry that we raped you."

"Did you get that?" She turned to Jo.

Jo cracked her knuckles. "They will be up before the priests of the Mother Goddess before sundown."

Addie felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Lord haMinch. "See me in my office after this," he said. Leo and William had regained consciousness to hear Caden confess. They had nodded as he said everything. "Leo of Stone Mountain, William of Malven, Caden of Tameran, and Hearenth of Naxon, you have dishonored this institution. I must kindly request that you leave us and never return. Also, priests from the temple of the Great Mother Goddess will be here soon to take you in. If you try to flee, the palace guard will catch you and will make your punishments all the worse. Now, stay." He turned and left the practice field.

Addie listened to Lord haMinch's lecture on proper conduct with half an ear. She knew that he had to do it, despite the atrocity that the boys had subjected her to. He gave her two extra candlemarks of riding on Sunday (she smiled inside at this one, he had picked the one punishment that he knew she didn't mind) and had her write long letters of apology to each of the boys' fathers.

After his lecture, she bowed to him and turned to leave.

"I'm proud of you Rose Cliffs, they deserved it."

She turned back to him. "I know sir; I wouldn't have done it if they hadn't." She heard him chortling as she left the room. She sighed; it felt nice to not have to watch out for traps as she walked back to her room.

The boys were taken up before The Great Mother Goddess that evening. As the accuser, Addie had to be there. They were all convicted and sentenced to a flogging of a hundred lashes each and heavy fines. Addie would have thought that this would not be enough, but as soon as the boys returned to their homes they were disowned by their families. Hearenth especially was chucked out as soon as he got home. The Naxons were mortified that he had raped her and Sir Gareth wrote her a long letter of apology. Addie was satisfied.

At the end of June, Lord haMinch announced that the page's trip this year was going to be a two week trip to Lake Naxon. It was to span over the last week of June and the first week of July. He gave them a week to pack. They also had to present their packs to him before they left, to make sure that they weren't taking too much. Addie was excited the entire week, she was looking forward of a breakup of the monotony. But sadly, the day before they left contained the exams they had to take to pass their year. The good news was that after the trip was their month long summer break.

Addie packed the bare minimum of what she needed and was approved by Lord haMinch the first day. She studied hard the entire week and passed the little exams with flying colors.

They left early on a Saturday morning accompanied by the Shang teachers and the Wildmage. Most of the pages were bleary eyed and half asleep, but Addie, used to getting up at this hour, was set and ready to go. She had sent Eye up to her fiefdom already with one of her father's servants who had come to deliver a message. Her father had said that he would work with him and finish his training while she was on the trip. Addie was reluctant to give up his training, but knew that he needed a professional trainer so that he wouldn't be messed up. She was also slightly grateful that she didn't have to deal with him every day. She left Sundancer at the palace. The mare was slowly getting better, but was still not strong enough to make the journey back up to Rose Cliffs. Addie had spent every night sitting and talking with her after lunging Eye. She said goodbye to the mare and mounted Braith. She had learned to mount Braith from the ground by leaping and pulling herself up with the stirrup. She had trouble mounting from the ground bareback though, but managed to get on by shimmying up Braith's leg and then grabbing her mane. Today though, she didn't have to worry about bareback because she had her saddle with a load of packs on the back.

As they rode out, Addie looked back at the city she had lived in for the past ten months. She sighed and looked towards the future.

They camped several hours out. Addie, Jo, Daine, and the Shang Ostrich spread their bedrolls out far from the boys. They dug their own latrine and were finished with their work while the boys were still trying to figure out where everyone was going to sleep and where to dig their latrine. The females started cooking as the boys ran around arguing. Soon enough, the boys were finished and the entire group had eaten. They sat around the campfire listening to the adults tell stories and then went to bed. Addie snuggled into her bedroll, thinking how lovely it was to be out of the castle.

Addie woke up suddenly in the middle of the night as four squirrels joined her in her bedroll. She realized that they must be here because of her Wild Magic. She had heard Daine tell stories of her nightly visitors. Addie sighed, it was nice to have them with her; they were comforting. Her mother had always kept the windows in Rose Cliff castle tightly closed at night and had kept Addie's door firmly closed. This was because she had found various creatures in Addie's room when Addie was a baby and was not enthusiastic about having her child exposed to rats, foxes, and others of the like. Addie had continued this practice when she had gone to Corus. On the way down from Rose Cliffs, the servant had put an impermeable barrier around their tents that had prevented so much as an ant from coming in. She snuggled in and fell asleep again.

She was watching the dark haired man again, except this time she was watching him from the water below the boat. He was staring out to sea and from this distance she could see tears running down his face. He was truly handsome. He leaned against the rail and put his head in his hands. She moved closer. He looked up and saw her. She made to flee.

"No, please. . ." he said reaching a hand out to her. She swam farther back still watching him. "I will always love you my goddess. I know you have your duty to the sea and it is your one true love, but might you spare a bit of love for your old lover?" Addie swam farther back. "Please Wave-Walker? Please?" Addie turned and dived to the bottom of the ocean, leaving the man alone on the boat.

R&R please. If you read it, you must have an opinion on it. I don't care if you hated it, I would like to know. Oh, and I would still like input on who should be Addie's knightmaster. I had not thought of Jonathon, but he is a good possibility. Please give me input.


End file.
